


A Different Path

by ThatLewdWriter



Series: A Different Path AU [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blow Jobs, Commissioned Work, Creampie, Cross-posted, F/F, Futa, Futanari, Girl Penis, Impregnation, Inflation, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Qrow's questionable morals, Sex, explicit - Freeform, quite a lot of plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:00:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25342870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatLewdWriter/pseuds/ThatLewdWriter
Summary: An AU, in which Emerald is found by Qrow.Emerald never imagined herself getting picked up and taken of the streets by some drunk hunter, but there Qrow was, teaching her his little tips and tricks of the trade, taking her under his wing. She doesn't expect kindness from strangers - much less drunk strangers - but she gets it all the same, from his invitation back to Signal, to her opportunity to learn at Beacon, and even to the introduction to his silver-eyed niece that she just can't help but fall for.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Emerald Sustrai
Series: A Different Path AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885534
Comments: 8
Kudos: 135





	A Different Path

**Author's Note:**

> Commissioned over on Hentai Foundry by AL. 
> 
> Pretty long AU, with more plot than there is smut; but it's very graphic smut, all the same. Skip three-quarters of the way down if plot isn't for you.

* * *

Emerald hadn’t been thinking all that much when she pick-pocketed the tall man with the black hair and a silly red cape. He’d stumbled out of a bar looking suitably drunk, his demeanour like someone that had been out for too long without getting cleaned and spent too much time in his cups, and the girl was sure he was an easy mark. Easy enough that she didn’t really need her semblance to rob him, but one could never be too sure on the streets, and she’d watched him for a little bit before going in.

She realized just how wrong she was when he cornered her at the end of an alley, casually leaning against a sword that was his equal in height and twice his width. It was then that Emerald realized the man was a full-blow hunter and not some military man or merc, and no matter how resourceful she was, there was a massive skill gap between them. But her semblance was the ace up her sleeve, and while it wasn’t perfect in this situation, she was small and quick and deft, and he wouldn’t know what to look for when she used her power. Most likely, he would go for his belongings and forget all about her -

“You got a semblance that messes with the mind, dont’cha?” The man said casually, rubbing his stubble as he looked her over, and Emerald froze. When he chuckled and clicked his tongue once, Emerald realized that the expression of surprise on her face was all he needed as confirmation. “Yeah, thought so.”  
  


Emerald swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, creep. Do you make a habit of cornering girls in dark alleys?”  
  


“Don’t even,” he drawled flippantly, his tone like that of a thoroughly drunk man. He was anything but, though, and his body was tense with the threat of motion. “I saw you eyein’ me when I left the bar, sizing me and the other patrons up. Then, conveniently, my shit goes missing, and so do you.”

“You’re imagining things,” Emerald spat, edging back against the wall of the alley. She felt like a cornered animal, and she wasn’t sure of how to escape - but it wasn’t the first tough spot she’d been in, and if she played her hand close to her chest she should be okay. She kept one hand behind her back the entire time they talked, her fingers thumbing the handle of her mechashift weapons, just in case she needed to move fast. She kept her other hand waving so that he focused on it, and wouldn’t suspect anything.

He pointedly ignored her words, and carefully looked her over. 

"Where are your parents, kid?" he asked abruptly, raising an eyebrow.

Emerald blinked incredulously, eyes shifting left and right. "They're close by, and I'd be with them right now if you weren't stalking me -"

"A street urchin, huh," he commented in his dry, gravelly voice, and Emerald scoffed. 

"Hardly!"

"Interesting," he murmured, rubbing his chin. It was that moment that Emerald triggered her semblance; a subtle use of her power, but a suggestion of motion at the corner of his eye and the sound of something wrong was enough to make him frown and look off, and at that moment Emerald was bounding forward, feet pounding against the hard ground as she ran like her life depended on it. She tossed his wallet behind her - already emptied of Lien, of course - to distract him, and kept herself low.

His arm caught her before she could make it halfway down the alley, winding her and making her huff. 

_He's fast!_ Emerald thought, panicked, and whirled around. She brought her weapons to bear on his head, hoping that the use of firearms would dissuade him from doing anything to her, but she was just met with an aggravating smirk.

"Clever," he said, and Emerald clicked her tongue and kicked him in the shin.

"Let go of me, or I'll shoot!" She warned, but he didn't seem phased. He stared down the barrel of her weapon with a raised eyebrow, scanning over the inelegant construction but clever design work with something like appreciation.

"You make these yourself, kid?"

"What's it matter to you!?"

He chuckled softly. "It's only polite to answer a question."

"It's only polite not to corner girls in alleys and accuse them of -"

"-You dropped my wallet, so drop the act, too," he told her none too gently, and Emerald's face scrunched up. "After cleaning it of my money, I see."

_How did he notice that from here?_ Emerald wondered. She chewed her lip as she weighed her options, and ruled out shooting the guy- he did have his Aura, after all, so there was little point. "...Yeah, I made them."

He nodded, impressed. "Huh - impressive. You don't see people capable of that anymore, y'know? My niece is like that. Weapon aficionado. Really promising kid."

"That's great," Emerald replied dryly, not at all willing to hear about the drunk’s niece. 

“It’s a compliment, kid,” the man scoffed, and let go of her. Emerald stumbled back, ready to bolt, but the man just… stood there, not making a move, and she stared back at him. “You’re pretty resourceful, now that I think about it. You’ve got some pretty neat skills to make weapons like that - shitty though they might be - and you _do_ have a pretty powerful semblance, dont’cha?”

Emerald squinted at him. “I guess so.”

“You guess,” he drawled. “Cute. You in a gang, or somethin’?”

“...No? What the heck?” Emerald shook her head vehemently, and the man tilted his head back to laugh.

“No shit,” he swore, and the girl scowled at him even harder. “Look, kid. I don’t do this often, alright? But being a street urchin sucks.” Emerald flinched and glared at him, but he didn’t get the hint. “And being a street urchin on your lonesome sucks twice as much, and stealing for money is even worse. But you’re resourceful, and you’ve got a decently strong semblance - I mean, I don’t really know what it is, but - and you know how to make your own weapons, somehow.”

He shook his head. “That’s a shame to waste it by doing shit-all with it.”  
  


Emerald kept on glaring, and he cleared his throat while pulling at his collar. “...Tough crowd. Okay, look - My name’s Qrow, and I’m a Hunter- ”

“I figured,” Emerald said flippantly, and he grinned roughly.

“Because you’re smarter than you look. So you’re probably smart enough to know a good offer when you hear it, right?”

Emerald blinked slowly, and bit her lip. “...Maybe.”

He laughed softly, more of a dry chuckle than anything. “Like I said, I’m a Hunter, and a teacher. Talents like yours are too useful to waste on the streets, doing petty theft. I’ll, ah, teach you some of what I know, get you some proper gear and proper training with your semblance and aura. And, more importantly, get you clean clothes, a hot meal, and a damned shower.”

She flipped her finger at him, and he laughed louder. “You got some bite, I admire that. But I bet you also never learned how to control that aura right, or bring out the full effect of your semblance… or am I wrong?”

Emerald didn’t answer, and he took that for a yes, which infuriated her. “‘Course. So, that’s what I’m offering. I’m not good with kids, mind you, but talent shouldn’t be left to waste. Someone taught me that, too, so I know how this is.”

Emerald examined the odd drunkard - Qrow - for a moment. She thought about running - she still could, probably, though he’d certainly find her and catch her somehow, like he had just done. Or she could go with him to placate him, take whatever he offered her today and, if she didn’t like what she saw, use the ‘in’ to rob him blind and ditch him. 

That was the only reason why she nodded her head a moment later, and he blinked with surprise.

“No shit?” Qrow rubbed his chin. “Uh, great. Great.”

Emerald raised an eyebrow. “Great?”  
  


“Yeah.” He rubbed his chin, and then his forehead. “...I didn’t drink enough to deal with this, honestly. Let’s just -” He stopped and squinted at her. “Er, how old are you?”

She twitched her nose. “Not old enough to go into a bar.”

He grunted. “Shit. Well, I’m sure there’s a restaurant around here that serves good food and a good drink.”

Oh, Emerald could think of several - all nice and expensive ones, that served food she’d never been able to taste before. And if Qrow was offering… “I know a few.”

“Wonderful,” he drawled lazily, swinging out his arm. “Lead the way, kid.”  
  


Emerald grinned. He might teach her something useful, or he might just be some pervert. It didn’t matter; she _was_ resourceful, and clever to boot. If he wasted her time, she’d take whatever she was owed and leave him, and he looked like a heavy enough drinker that she could take advantage of that - properly this time, without letting him catch on. It would be _easy._

She didn’t expect to be with him for very long, at least.

* * *

Emerald didn’t run, not even when days turned into weeks. Sure, Qrow was a strange guy that seemed to be almost perpetually drunk, but he was a good guy by Emerald’s standards. Not very high standards, but standards nonetheless. He had made good on his word the first time around and gotten her food, a place to stay and clean up, and new clothes to boot. And he hadn’t expected anything of her in turn, other than that she listened to what he said, and did as he asked. Which, typically, meant not making too much noise or causing any trouble, and in return, he taught her things.

He was as skilled as all Hunters and Huntresses were lauded to be, and he knew things that Emerald had no grasp of at all. Granted, she was pretty sure that he was showing off most of the time, but it was still a clear indication that he _knew things._ Even though she never fully explained the extent of her semblance, he had still shown her how to do things with it and her aura that would never have occurred to her otherwise. While there was always a certain level of knowledge one had with their natural abilities, there was a level of theory and application that one couldn’t get without a proper education, and Qrow freely taught her that knowledge.

It was enough to keep Emerald from leaving, as she knew that there was no way she could afford to get into a school that would teach her the same level of theory, and she was _not_ about to join some military for a free ride. But Qrow was good for more than just that, and he’d already taken note of Emerald’s athletic - if thin and malnourished - physique, and skills at sleight-of-hand. He hadn’t shown much finesse when he’d first started hand-to-hand combat with her, but that meant he didn’t pull his punches, either. He treated her less like a little girl and more like a scrappy young fighter, and he very firmly and solidly showed her how to _fight,_ propelling her from street-scrapper to a real fighter.

Or, well, close enough to one. Qrow was actually a really good teacher, Emerald had to begrudgingly admit. He knew what he was doing, and he knew how to string Emerald along with the promise of _more_ each day to prevent her from running off with as much loot as she could carry. He moved around the city a lot, and oftentimes went out of the borders - he was on a mission, he said, though what exactly it was, he never felt the need to say. All he’d given her on each of his outings was a small Lien ‘allowance’, as she called it, and a stern warning ‘not to get up to any shit’ while he was gone.

Weeks turned into months, and Qrow’s mission took him further and further out into the arid planes around the city. It was still indistinct to Emerald what his mission was meant to be, and he went out of his way to make sure that Emerald didn’t know about it, either, but he freely offered her the opportunity to go with him, and she didn’t even protest - she just eagerly followed along with him, ready to learn more. 

Exactly three weeks into it, Qrow had brought her to a second-hand parts store and purchased her a whole bunch of weapon parts and metal and plastic composite plates. He was a weapon tinkerer too, to some extent, and gave her a few pointers on how to fix up her weapons and improve the design so that it wasn’t quite ‘as shitty’, as he said. Emerald was rather fond of her design and her weapons altogether, but she couldn’t begrudge an upgrade. Suitably impressed with her resulting work and the skill she showed in her sharpshooting and aiming ‘classes’ he gave her, he’d bought her a whole ammunition canister of Dust bullets to go with the new designs.

At six weeks, Qrow had started taking her out to observe and watch him fight some of the smaller Grimm that patrolled the spaces between Vacuo’s population centers. Fighting Grimm was never something Emerald had found appealing, if she was being honest. Humans were easy to observe, easy to mark, easy to fool with her powers, and most importantly, _safe._ Grimm were dangerous, and didn’t offer her anything of value in return.

...Which had lasted up until Qrow took up a contract to kill some bull Death Stalker that was haunting an abandoned quarry. She’d been there just to observe, and seeing the Hunter _really_ go all out - seeing his flips and dives, his lightning-fast strikes and reflexes that bordered on preternatural - had sent her blood pumping, and the sight of his lethal scythe as it carved crescents into the beast’s hide was the stuff of stories. The main draw for Emerald had been the bounty they were paid out at the end of it, and her eyes had boggled out of her skull.

“Dangerous work,” Qrow told her after, swinging the leather bag of Lien in hand. “And sometimes, people don’t have anything to scrounge up for you after. But other times? Well, it’s enough to get by comfortably, if you’re smart. And if you’re good…”

He let the suggestion hang, and Emerald was hooked in effortlessly. 

She was happier to train then, more eager to test herself against the smaller Grimm. Qrow was always there with a careful watching eye and helpful hand, but he gave her leave to practice as she wished so long as she did not, quote, "get herself killed." He was a wealth of knowledge when it came to the black-skinned nightmares, and she learned about types and breeds, the myriad species and their weaknesses. Qrow had plenty of helpful stories and adages that were just as grim as the monsters themselves, serving as both warnings and advice. 

As her skills increased he gave her more leeway and agency, even allowing her to take up a contract on his behalf - sure, she couldn't do it legally, but Qrow just winked slyly. It was a task that was wholly beneath him anyway, just killing some Boarbatusk that was rolling through some fields, but she'd excitedly undertaken it and triumphantly returned. With just a few more scratches than she had set out with, maybe, but it hardly mattered. And despite it being a trivial matter for Qrow he still beamed when she came back victorious, a few more (honestly earned) Lien to her name, and Emerald had felt… proud.

He took her out to celebrate, which, for him, just meant drinking. Her semblance did a good job of making sure no one in any of the bars they visited would object to her age, something that Qrow both disapproved of and drunkenly applauded. He was a strange, weird guy, all told, with odd habits that probably weren't for the best. He barely knew how to treat her, alternating between acting like she was one of his illusive nieces or some chummy pal he'd met out on a mission, but that was part of the charm. He never really knew how to act around her, and she still laughed when he'd told her that she needed a haircut and then took her to some barber who simply looked at the two of them blankly, as if he hadn’t seen a woman in thirty years. 

And… maybe they weren't the best habits, as she developed a liking for the hard liquors he favoured, and his roguish, womanizing ways probably weren't for the better, either; too often did they bond over talks of the pretty ladies around or the cute servings girls that seemed to find him attractive. And some did for Emerald, too, and Qrow wasn't shy in letting giving her a 'celebration' on occasion by spending some Lien at a local tavern-slash-brothel.

What could she say? Bad habits though they might be, they rubbed off on her.

A second month passed, and Emerald found herself wondering too much about the oddly mannered man who had picked up a street urchin, taught her to fight and just simply educated her, and carried her around through arid plains and deserts were just survival for one was hard, and did so openly and without a grumble.

Well, mostly without a grumble.

"Get some sleep," he lazily barked at her over the smouldering remains of their campfire - he had shown her how to set up a slow-burning and smokeless one to avoid detection. "Don't keep me up with your snoring again, or so help me I'll leave you out here to become Grimm chow."

Emerald smirked and laughed. “That wasn’t me snoring last time, you lush. That was the bartender, having a bit too much of a good time.”  
  


“I do _not_ need to hear that,” Qrow muttered, waving his hand at her. 

Emerald shook her head, chuckling under her breath while her pale green fringes waved. “Oh, but when you talk about it it’s fine?”  
  


He clicked his tongue. “That’s like -like hearing family talk about it. Do _not_ want to know.”

“...Odd comparison,” Emerald muttered.

“Is it?” He shook his head. “Put that fire out when you’re turning in so we don’t burn alive.”  
  


The mocha-skinned girl blinked and sat back, scrunching up her nose. Qrow fumbled around for a sleeping bag and set his fully closed scythe beside him, in easy reach. She kept on poking at the smouldering fire while the man prepared himself for sleep, and she sent him quick, furtive glances all the while.

“If you gotta say somethin’,” he sighed, “say it, before I’m sleeping.” 

She took in a quick breath. “Why are you helping me, Qrow?”

“Hah?” He looked at her and furrowed his brow. “What?” 

Emerald continued to poke at the fire, very deliberately not meeting his gaze. “Why are you doing… this. You know. Helping out a street urchin.” 

“What does being a street urchin matter? You’ve got talent.” He shrugged. “Still a brat, though.”

She twitched her nose and flicked her fingers through her short hair. It was choppy and rough as she’d had to cut her hair with her knife, though it was still a considerable improvement over the barber. “Talent, huh.”

He grumbled. “Odd time for introspection. Look, kid. This isn’t something I make a habit of doing - like, ever. But, like I said the first time we met, someone did the same for me, once. Or, at least, they saw somethin’ in me when others didn’t. Helped me out more than I’d care to admit, and it’s made me better for it.”

Qrow stretched out his lean body casually. “Maybe I’m just returning the favour. Or maybe, it's because I think it’s an awful shame for you to live out on the streets, wasting away until the wrong kinds of people see what you can do.”

She hesitated. “I just -”

“Some people come from bad beginnings,” Qrow muttered, turning over in his bedroll. “Trust me, I know that. I’ve been there. But I turned out _better_ with help, and I know you will, too. You don’t need to go hungry every other night, forced to pickpocket - not when you have the ability to stop that with your own powers. You just need a nudge in the right direction.”  
  


There was a long moment of silence before Emerald spoke again, and she did so softly. “Thanks, Qrow. That’s - no one’s done that for me before. I -” She squinted in the dark. “...Did you fall asleep? Qrow?”

He snored, and she snorted incredulously. “Well, at least you don’t waste words, Qrow.”

* * *

Another month passed, and she and Qrow grew even closer. As far as travelling companions went, they were pretty good ones, and in that time Emerald had learned a wealth of things: His family, his nieces, his friends, and more about his past. It was the most Emerald had ever known about anyone, and she felt closer to the former-stranger than she had to anyone before. He was genuine in his desire to see her do something good, too, and he made good on his words to teach her what he knew. Emerald found her knowledge increasing by leaps and bounds. 

But Qrow’s mission eventually came to a close, and the training dwindled as a result. Emerald still didn’t know what it was, but when he’d finished it looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It brought a new issue, though. With his mission done he had nothing holding him to Vacuo any longer, and he had led them to the city with the closest major airship port - the city where she had spent her formative years pick-pocketing and travelling the streets. It made sense, given the circular route they had made through the countryside as he did his work, but for Emerald, the three months they had spent together felt too short.

“You know,” he said, while the two were sitting in a cafe that overlooked the airship port, “I used to be a teacher.”

“A teacher?” Emerald had frowned into her cup of coffee. “What kind of -”  
  


“School teacher. Weapons, battle tactics, history. That sort of thing.”  
  
Emerald grinned at him. “I’d say you don’t look the part, but you certainly teach it.”

He hummed, and sipped his black coffee. “A teacher at Signal Academy, on a small island in Vale. It’s where I live - er, obviously.”

She cleared her throat and looked off to the side nervously. She wasn’t sure what to say to that - good job? I’m glad? Don’t leave? - and so she settled for not responding at all. 

Qrow chuckled. “Don’t look so glum; I’m just really bad at setting things up, I guess.”  
  


Emerald raised a green eyebrow at him, and he shook his head. “Trying to set the groundwork fer - ah, whatever. I’m not at Signal anymore, but I’ve got solid standing and a good rep -”

“-When you’re not drinking? -”

“ - and an in with the higher ups; I’ve got sway, and I could get you in pretty easily. Maybe not room and board material, but I can see about some living space with me to fix that. You could probably be placed in a class with kids your age on account of my teaching there, but you’ll need to do some preliminary examinations -”  
  


Emerald shook her head. “What are you saying, Qrow?”

He shifted on his chair. “Offering for you to come back to Patch with me, so you can go to school. I mean, there’re schools here, but I’ve got no sway-”

“You want me to go _home_ with you?” Emerald interrupted again, and he rolled his eyes. 

“Yes. To a small, uninspiring island with a decent combat school for hunters and huntresses.”  
  


She swallowed. “And that bit with the - the living with you. Not on my own?”

He shrugged. “There are no dorms at Signal, actually. Just apartments, but…”

Emerald shook her head. "You - you can't be serious. You don't - you don’t know me?"

"I know you more than you think, kid. You've got a good heart, and you're pretty kind, when you're not trying to suck up to people. You're half the cynic I turned out to be at your age, at least."

She just stared at him. "I, uh... Don't have a passport?"

He raised an eyebrow. "And that's stopped you when?"

"T-the airship port has military security..."

"You can make people hallucinate things, and now you're worried about being caught?" He chuckled. "Doesn't matter, anyhow. I'm a hunter, so all I gotta do is say you're my niece and our work made us lose a few things. Easy, peasy."

She blinked, looked at him, looked down at her cup, and then looked up again. "You're... serious. You're serious about this?"

"What, have I made a habit of lying to you?"

"No, you're... very truthful. Most truthful person I've ever met."

Qrow grunted, running a hand through his slicked-back hair. "That doesn't say much, I'm afraid. Ah, whatever. You in, or not?"

* * *

Patch really was just some small island off of Vale. Much smaller than the city she'd grown up in, and with more vegetation than she'd seen in Vacuo. It wasn't... pleasant, if she was being honest. The climate was off for her, the nature a strangely foreign sight. And she really just liked the comforting press of structures, of tall buildings and sky-scrapers, and this was decidedly not that. 

Qrow had gotten her into Signal Academy, true to his word. She'd aced most of the practical tests and entry exams they asked of her. They said it was just to make sure she was capable of keeping up with others in 'her year' and age range, which she had shrugged along with. The result of being 'bumped up' meant that she had a lot of backreading to do that spanned a few years worth of information, but that was fine; at least, now, she had access to that knowledge.

He'd gotten her a room across the hall from his apartment - just a few steps away from his door, really. It was a small thing that wasn't all that fancy or elaborate, and really barely suitable for anyone to live long-term in, but it was hers, and she liked that. That had come with a series of responsibilities, though, and while Qrow covered the costs and gave her a modest allowance, stating that he'd only continue to cover it should she put her nose to the grindstone at school. He wasn’t always around, though, and while he was off from his missions, he visited the mainland and Beacon Academy several times during her stay, leaving her to her own devices often.

She really did work hard at school, despite how little she enjoyed sitting in a desk and being lectured to. She much preferred the hands-on experience Qrow gave her, but sometimes, he still did that - taking her out into the wilds of the island, or out on a boat to observe water Grimm. He called her his 'niece' to people that asked, and to those that actually knew about his family on the island, he just shrugged. It was amusing, to say the least. 

She was a bit of an oddity on Patch, though, she had to say. It wasn't a place for people from all over to gather, but a localized school for the few thousand residents of the island and for people along the coastal cities to learn. That meant that most of them were classic Vale-dwellers, with their pale-skin and earthy hair colours, and a far cry from Emerald's dusky, mocha-coloured skin and pale green hair. She drew attention for her exotic appearance, that was for sure. But no one bothered her, and especially not with Qrow at her back and acting as her guardian, and that was fine.

It was a month in when Qrow had told her to look ‘nice', which she assumed meant 'don't wear your school uniform.' He hadn't told her until they were well out of their apartment that he was taking her to see his family, and she'd stopped short. He had visited them after coming to Vale, of course, but Emerald had stayed home, and just waited for him to return. She heard a lot about his family, sure, and she felt like she knew a fair amount about each of them because of his stories, but to meet them? That was another level of seriousness.

But he hadn't taken no for an answer, and there she was, sitting in Taiyang Xiao-Long's neat little kitchen, sitting at a table with the infamous Ruby and Yang sitting across from her. The blonde-haired man had been amicable when he'd seen her, though very curious, and all but pulled Qrow aside to 'talk' and left the girls alone. 

It was... weird. Ruby was an oddly cheerful girl with a voice that bordered on a squeak and acted as if someone had given her thirteen tablespoons of sugar too many, and Yang was a forward and brash blonde with a body that was much more developed than Emerald expected to see. It was funny, because they looked at her like she was a stranger, but she knew so much about them from Qrow that they didn't _feel_ like strangers. 

"It's good to get faces to go with the stories," Emerald said, chuckling to herself nervously. "Qrow's, uh, told me a bunch about you guys."

And that opened up a tirade by Ruby, who very excitedly asked about literally everything that Emerald had done with her uncle, the kinds of things they had seen and the Grimm they had fought, and the questions came out so quickly that Emerald was scrambling for answers. She mentioned nothing about her past, though, and was as vague as she could manage . Both girls seemed to enjoy her stories, though that might have just been them fishing for tales about their uncle that he wouldn't otherwise tell them.

Emerald wasn't shy to spill those - anything that would endear them to her, right?

"Geez," Yang said afterwards, "You're like an Emerald in rough, huh?"

Emerald squinted at her. "Uh..."

"Cuz you're a gem." Yang flicked her fingers at Emerald. "Get it? Emerald? Gem? Like a diamond in the rough, but you're, like -"

Both Emerald and Ruby spoke at the same time, the former with a, "Ah... That's, uhm, not very good...?" and the latter with a, "Yang, that's terrible!"

Yang puffed out her cheeks as she looked at the both of them. "Wait, like, I'm not used to being ganged up on by two people.”

Emerald sniffed, and looked at Ruby. “She does this often?  
  


“Too often,” Ruby sighed, which earned her an annoyed ‘hey!’ from Yang.

“My jokes and puns are fantastic,” Yang said adamantly, crossing her arms over her chest. “You guys have no sense of humor.”

Emerald laughed softly to herself, feeling a little out of place with their sisterly dynamic. She supposed she was just unsure of _siblings_ in general, and the fact that the two looked nothing alike didn’t help. Qrow had only been loose with the details in that regard, too, but she’d gathered just enough to figure that Ruby’s mother wasn’t the same as Yang’s. 

She looked up and blinked, and then shifted back awkwardly as she realized that Ruby’s silver eyes were fastened on her. “Is something wrong?”

Yang looked at her sister and knocked their shoulders together. “Rubes, you’re staring again.”  
  


“Sorry, sorry!” Ruby said earnestly, “You just look really interesting, and you’re pretty, too, so -”

“Oh, my gosh,” Yang murmured solemnly, hanging her head in her hands. “My little sis, flirting at such a young age -”  
  


“-Yang, I’m - w-wait, w-what?! Yang, I was _not!_ ”

“I never knew I would lose her to an exotic Vacuo -Vacua - Ah, what is it? Vacuan? Vacuii?’

Ruby hung her head, and Emerald suppressed a laugh. “I’m glad you find me interesting, Ruby.” 

“I didn’t mean anything by it!” Ruby rushed to say, clearly perturbed by her sister’s comment. “I just haven’t seen a girl from Vacuo in person before!”  
  


Emerald held up her hands. “It’s fine, I don’t mind.”

Ruby leaned into the table, her little nose twitching. “...Did you really make your own weapons?”

The green-haired teen raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I did.”

Ruby puffed her cheeks out. “That is - that is just. So. Cool! Did you bring ‘em? Can I see them? I’d love to know what kind of mechanism you went with for -”

Emerald’s eyes widened and she plastered a nervous smile on her face as Ruby broke out into another energetic tirade, only to be stopped by Yang, who grabbed her by the back of the shirt like a mother hen and stopped her from climbing the table. “Down, Ruby.”  
  


Ruby sat back and took in a breath, steadying herself. “Sorry. But it’s not like any other girls like talking about weapon-smithing and stuff…”

Emerald cleared her throat. “I’d be happy to talk about it if you want, Ruby. I could bring them by some other day ...?”  
  


“-Yes!” Ruby cried. “That would be awesome!”  
  


“Yay,” Yang muttered with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “Bonding over weapons.”

“...Yang, you bond over punching things.”  
  


“That’s one-hundred percent bonding material,” Yang stated matter-of-factly, and then wiggled her eyebrows. “And girlfriend material.”

Ruby pushed on her shoulder, and though the girl didn’t have the strength to shift her considerably more muscular sister, the blonde swayed over anyhow. Emerald watched it with a mixture of fondness and annoyance - fondness in that it was a nice sight to see two sisters so close, and annoyance because it wasn’t _hers._ It wasn’t something she’d experienced, and it made her heart pang with regret. She knew it was silly, but this was all so new for her that it struck her in ways that forced her to fall back on old mentalities.

She looked off into the adjacent room, where Qrow and Taiyang were still talking under their breaths. Yang followed her gaze, her eyebrow propped up. “Yeah, they’ve been in there for a while.”

Emerald bit her lip. “I hope they’re not getting into a fight because of me.”  
  


Yang sighed, and shrugged. “Maybe. But Uncle Qrow does impulsive things all the time, and dad yells at him all the time. When he came back this time they argued about him not calling or sending messages. Nothing new.”  
  


“Uncle Qrow is awesome,” Ruby stated adamantly, glaring at her sister, and Yang laughed.

“Yeah, he is.”

Emerald sniffed. “Does he usually bring people home?”  
  


“No, never.” Yang shrugged again. “It’s a little strange, no offense, but Uncle Qrow knows better than us. If he trusts you then so do we.” The blonde smirked, and then wagged her finger. “But I am _not_ calling you cousin.”

Emerald snorted a laugh. “Don’t worry - I definitely don’t want you to. Not unless I’ve had plenty to drink before hand.”

Yang’s eyes widened, and she leaned in conspiratorially. “Oh? You drink?”

Ruby looked between them. “What are you -?”  
  


Yang quickly slapped her hands over Ruby’s ears, and the redhead’s face dropped and she looked very blanky at Emerald, as if she was absolutely done with Yang. The blonde, however, leaned in as if Ruby wasn’t there, eyes twinkling. “So?”

“Your uncle is… a very interesting role model.”

Yang snorted in laughter, while Ruby looked on and rolled her eyes.

* * *

More time passed - much more, in fact. Qrow was an on-and-off presence in her life as months trailed by, as more often than not he was on some sort of mission or other that she couldn’t participate in. It sucked, but she’d become closer to Taiyang as well, and so when Qrow left she was welcomed over to his place with open arms and a smile. Consequently, she spent a lot more time with Ruby and Yang, too, and she got to know them fairly well as a result.

Yang was rambunctious, loud, a joker, and very protective of her sister - things that Emerald could understand, even though she was far from similar. Ruby was interesting by comparison - a bundle of energy, terribly sweet and friendly, but also surprisingly meek and shy. But the way she got into her weapons when they were talking was adorable, and Ruby seemed to switched into a whole new passionate persona. She knew things about mechashift and Dust infusion that Emerald had never even heard of, and the small girl wasn’t shy to get elbows-deep in grease when working on her weapons.

She was able to put herself straight to the grindstone, and Emerald appreciated that. She wasn’t some girl that liked to sit back and watch things get done for her, and she was a wealth of knowledge on mechanics of all sorts, really. While neither could afford the most top-tier of materials, Ruby had access to some considerably good stuff, and helped Emerald modify and improve the design of her sickle-edged guns. ‘Scythe guns’, as Ruby called them, despite Emerald’s instance that they weren't the same thing; the girl was obsessed with the shapes, and called the two of them scythe buddies.

She supposed there were worse things to be called.

She spent a lot of time with the girls, despite their differing personalities. And they were a bit too bubbly all the time for her, but Qrow was right in that it didn’t really matter. They were genuine friends, and it made Emerald feel… nice. They didn’t always see eye-to-eye, sure, but they fit together well. Though, Ruby very much didn’t enjoy her habit of sneaking a flask around, while Yang got all sorts of kicks out of it. 

They were her only genuine friends on Patch, actually. Yang had her other friends, and Ruby did too, but Emerald really didn’t click with the others - she was too busy studying to mingle. The schoolgirls found her plenty interesting, sure, owing to her exotic good looks and, later, rumours of her skill in bed, but those were simple flings that were few and far between, and mattered little to her beyond the little fun they provided. 

Her style went through an upgrade as well, as she learned about the various styles of Hunters from Yang and Ruby. Bandages and wrappings had been replaced with protective leathers and decorative cloths, and she went around with a crop-top that functioned as a sports bra around her generous chest. Low-riding white breeches were secured around her hips, over which she wore leather half-chaps. Ruby had incorporated holsters and rings for hoops of ammunition, should she need them. Her outfit left a lot more of her dark skin on display than was appropriate, and more than was wise in Vale - she was used to dressing down for the Vacuan heat, and Vale was _cold_ by comparison. But she liked the style, and it was greeted with approval by both her friends and other admirers.

Months drifted on, and on, and _on,_ until months drifted into a year, and then longer still. Emerald became a firm fixture in the Rose/XiaoLong household, a permanent and close friend to the two girls. Qrow drifted constantly, undertaking missions that he couldn’t always take her on, but that was fine. She was no longer alone, and even when her guardian was gone she had people to stay with and be close to. Though, it had taken Taiyang a while to get it through Qrow’s head that he needed to legally take on guardianship of her due to her age, which had been an endless source of amusement.

He had been there for the announcement that she was accepted into Beacon, some time later. Both she and Yang had accepted, in fact, and they had all celebrated profusely. First all together, with a cake and candles and streamers all sorts of things that Emerald never thought she’d see, and then later, just between her and Qrow, with a bottle of his finest whiskey between them and a gift of the most recent model of scroll. It was nice; homely, in a way she’d never expected.

* * *

“Beacon Battle Academy is a great place,” Qrow told her, the night before she and Yang were set to leave. “The place where I learned everything, you know.”  
  


“I know,” Emerald said in reply, laughing softly. She didn’t want to drink anything, though he’d offered; she was too nervous. “You’ve said.”  
  


He hummed. “I suppose I did. My mentor - the man who put me on this path so many years ago - runs the place. Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon.” He gave her an earnest look. “He’s an excellent man. I know he’d keep you safe, and I trust him to teach you the rest of everything you need to know.”

“That’s reassuring.” She shifted, her knees knocking together. She ran her hand through her longer tresses of hair, curling them around her finger. Patch had proper hairdressers, and she’d gone through a few styles before settling for a short-cut fringe that swept around her head with two grown-out strands that fell to her mocha-coloured shoulders. It was a far cry from cutting her hair with her knife, that was for sure. “Qrow, I -”

“Hey, I getcha,” he whispered, setting a hand on her bare shoulder. “I really do.”

She nodded roughly, raggedly, almost, feeling a strange affection for the strange man that had turned her life around.

“It’s odd,” Qrow murmured. “I mean, I leave you alone all the time and stuff, but… you going away, living in a dorm, with your own team? Makes me feel strange.”

She laughed. “Taiyang said the same to Yang.”  
  


“Well, you two mean the same to us.” He took a swig from his flask, and Emerald stared at him, a frog in her throat. “I think I’ll feel weird without you around.”

“...Same here,” Emerald admitted, still twirling her hair around in-hand.

He gave her a look. “Maybe not as much as Ruby, though. The kid’s pretty sad that you’re leaving.”

  
Emerald’s heart jumped, but she chuckled softly and shook her head. “She’s sad her sister’s leaving. But it’s cool, she’ll be at Beacon in a couple of years.”  
  


“Nah, I think she’ll miss you as much as I will.” Qrow rubbed his chin. 

The dark-skinned girl swallowed hard, thinking about the smaller, silver-eyed girl. She was a constant fixture in Emerald’s life, and they were fairly close, all told. Beyond Yang, she was her best friend, she was sure. And she was, in turn, Emerald’s, and she was as fond of the girl as she was for Qrow, it was true.

“She has my scroll,” Emerald said at length, “And you do, too. We’ll be in touch, as long as you remember how to use it.”

“That was one time,” he scowled, shaking his head. He kicked his feet up and leaned back, arms crossed under his head, flask on his belly. “I think you’ll do great at Beacon, Emerald. I’m sure of it.”

She mirrored his actions, setting herself side-by-side with him. “Maybe. I hope so. But either way… thanks for the opportunity.”

He smirked. “My pleasure. Really.”

* * *

Emerald hadn’t been beside Yang on the Bullhead when Ruby showed up, as Yang had gone off to chat with her other friends. The dusky-skinned girl had contented herself with leaning by the windows and sizing up the other future hunters and huntresses, wondering what each of their semblances might be and what specialities they had. When Emerald had caught sight of the familiar head of short, red hair, she’d thought she had been hallucinating at first, wondering if it was possible for someone else to have her semblance and use it against her - and then she noticed the blonde bruiser beside her and realized it was _actually_ Ruby, and she had dashed forwards.

Ruby had brightened up at the sight of her, but not enough; she was clearly nervous and timid, and as Emerald listened to her conversation with Yang, it was clear the redhead wasn’t being reassured. When Yang dashed off she set a hand on Ruby’s shoulders and squeezed lightly, giving her the best reassuring smile she could.

“I, uh, can’t say much about that ‘be yourself’ shtick,” Emerald said, and Ruby looked up at her with her big, silver eyes. “I’ve always been different around people, because I’ve known what they wanted and I tried to _be_ those things so they’d trust me.”  
  


Ruby frowned and bit her lip cutely. “I… don’t think I can do that? It sounds kinda mean…”  
  


“Yeah, don’t do it,” Emerald replied, nodding her head a few times. “It sucks, and I think you’re really cool as-is. I do sorta agree with Yang - if people don’t like you, screw ‘em. I never even liked cheerful people all that much, and I _still_ think you’re awesome. So… you know. Don’t try to be something you’re not.”

Ruby shifted and sighed, rubbing her palms together. “I don’t want people thinking I’m, like, special for being put up two years, y’know? It’s…”  
  


“You got in early due to your own merits. Nothing to be ashamed of,” Emerald said bluntly, shrugging her shoulders. “And yeah, okay, they might think things about you because of that, but I’m the same. I went to Signal and got put into the last year just because Qrow put in a few good words, and now I’m here at Beacon with a fourth of the learning that everyone else has had. I didn’t even have friends other than you guys. I’ve got zero cred here.”

The girl shook her head, brow furrowed. “But you’re _really_ good, Emerald, and you’ve been out on _missions.”_

Emerald smirked. “Right, and you’re really good, and you just beat up a gang. So we’re both here on the exact same grounds.” She shook her head, and squeezed Ruby’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about what other people think. I’m just happy that you’re here, going through school in the same year as me.”

Ruby tilted her head, and then smiled sweetly. “Yeah, I guess I’m more happy that I get to be with you guys than, you know, not being with you guys. It _is_ pretty sweet!”  
  


“Who knows? Maybe we’ll be on the same team.” 

Ruby clapped her hands. “Oh, that’d be awesome!”  
  


“It would be, huh?” Emerald stepped back from Ruby, her hand drifting away from her shoulder. It was odd how much Emerald _wanted_ to comfort the small redhead, her big, silver eyes almost pulling her in. She shook her head, looked out at the crowd around them and smiled, then winked at the silver-eyed girl. “Hey, what'd ya say we try and guess everyone’s semblances here? Whoever’s closest after gets ten Lien.”

“Oh, you’re on!”  
  


* * *

"How did the 'making friends' thing go with Yang?" Emerald asked some time later, setting her sleeping bag beside Ruby's and lying down flat on her back.

"Horrible," Ruby whined, turning on her side to look at Emerald. "Just horrible. The only one that wanted to talk was Jaune."

Emerald frowned. "Blonde kid?"

Ruby hummed in reply.

"Ah." Emerald crossed her arms under her head as she locked eyes with Ruby, staring at her evenly. "Did Schnee yell at you again?"

Ruby shook her small face. "No, she didn't. Uhm, I know I said it already, but thanks for sticking up for me today. She was -"

Emerald waved her hand. "Rich girls. It's whatever. She expects certain things that we don't; we live in different worlds, practically."

"Yeah," Ruby whispered. Her eyes flicked off to the side, and then fastened back on Emeralds. "I really hope we get on the same team."

Emerald smiled. "I do too, Ruby."

* * *

Emerald did not end up getting on the same team as Ruby, and in a cruel quirk of fate, Yang had been placed with her sister. It was an unfortunate turn of events that made her chest pang, but she brushed it aside and swept it under the rug. Her own team wasn't bad, per se, and were all rather chill and down-to-earth individuals. They were the sort of people she should have liked, but she found herself longing after the rambunctious presence that was Yang and the hyperactive bundle that was Ruby.

She mused on how it was that she grew so accustomed to personalities she used to find aggravating. 

Despite her team, she still spent an inordinate amount of time with the newly created team RWBY - though, that was to say, she spent time with Yang and Ruby, since her teammates were bitchy and silent respectively. But Emerald only really cared about the sisters, and two weeks into the semester at Beacon the three were sitting in the cafeteria at one of the tables, munching on their lunches and just chatting. 

"That girl's pretty," Yang sang, pointing at a cute brunette walking by.

Emerald nodded, humming. "She is... and so is that girl. The Atlesian."

Yang grinned. "She is cute - hm. Do all Atlesian girls look like princesses, I wonder?"

Emerald snorted. “They definitely act like it in -” she cut herself off and glanced to the side at Ruby, who was pouting. “Ah, yeah.”

“You guys always do this, I swear,” Ruby whined, shaking her head. “Can’t we talk about something that’s not pretty girls?”

“Hey, it’s tough when everyone here’s so _cute,_ ” Yang half-squealed, looking incredibly pleased with herself. She leaned over and knocked shoulders with Blake, blinking suggestively, while the dark-haired girl just read her book impassively. 

Emerald frowned. _When did she get here? She’s quiet._

“You think _everyone’s_ pretty,” Ruby stated adamantly, and then looked at Emerald. “You do, too. You guys need better topic.”

The green-haired girl laughed. “We think it, because it’s true.” She leaned in and set her chin in her hand, winking at Ruby. “Don’t worry, Ruby; I think you’re a very pretty girl, too.”

Ruby made a noise that was meant to be dismissive, but Emerald didn’t fail to notice how her pale cheeks tinged with just a tiny bit of pink. Emerald’s words weren’t something she was faking anyhow, and she did find Ruby to be a good-looking girl; youthful, sure, but that wasn’t much of a barrier to Emerald. She was modestly curvy in a way that would certainly get more significant with age, and she had a delightful set of hips on her - 

_...Don’t think of Ruby like that, Em._

Yang laughed as she always did at the teasing, and Emerald blinked as she realized she’d been staring for a moment too long and shifted away. “Anyways -”

A crash rang out nearby, and a serving tray clattered to the ground. Emerald and Ruby turned while Yang and Blake perked up and looked across at the table, where a trio of boys were communicating with a bunny-Faunus. Though, for Emerald to call it _communicating_ wasn’t right, not even close. Bullying at best, harassment at worse, saying all manner of things to the girl that were positively uncouth. Blake frowned just a bit, which was overshadowed by Yang’s scowl. Ruby looked perturbed, her foot tapping against the ground with the speed of her semblance.

Emerald focused in on the tall boy leading the back. She wasn’t sure what his name was, nor did she recognize him. His reddish-brown hair and broad frame gave her no recognition, but frankly, she didn’t care. His attitude was far too similar to how people treated her, back when she was on the streets and little better than a blight, and it made her blood boil. 

It took barely more than a suggestion for her, a tapping of just a hint of her power. Shapes coalesced in the bully’s mind, and the boy was suddenly whirling, shouting his panic and pointing at a nightmare that wasn’t there. His friends looked at him blankly while the bunny-faunus backed away slowly, a peculiar frown on her face, while the boy continued to frantically wave his hands and point at the Grimm which only he could see. Emerald smirked to herself and raised an eyebrow, crossing one leg over the other as she added a bit _more_ to his hallucination; a sudden suggestion of more shapes in the corner of his vision, a rearing Grimm before him, ready to lunge…

The boy fell down, crawling away from the Grimm only he could see. Emeralds’ semblance didn’t last much longer after that, but she’d already gotten the desired effect; the boy was shouting in fear, crawling across the ground, pointing at the beast that trailed after him… until suddenly it wasn’t, and the illusions melted away. He blinked, looking around oddly as if he had just seen sunlight after days of the dark, while everyone just looked at him in turn.

He turned to his buddies, who stared at him on the floor, slack-jawed.

“...Cardin?” One asked, clearly confused.

“Y-you saw it, r-right?” He looked at his teammates with wide, panicked eyes. 

“...Saw what…?”

“T-the G-Grimm! I-It was r-right there - !”

One of the boys swallowed, while the other just looked away. “There was nothing there, Cardin. And, uh, you kinda got Velvet’s food all over your uniform. You just crawled through it?”

The boy looked down at himself and screeched, and then jumped to his feet, whirling around and sending food fragments flying around. “B-but it was right t-there!”

Emerald giggled to herself, turning back around to refocus on her food. She could hear others laughing around her at the silly display, making fun of the would-be bully. Yang was still staring over at Cardin making a fool of himself, but Blake was staring at her with her eyebrows raised. Ruby turned to her just a moment later, apparently faster than her sister at putting the pieces together.

“Emerald,” Ruby gushed, leaning in with her hands clasped together, “was that _you_?”

Emerald suppressed her smile. “Of course not. Cardin just saw something strange, I’m sure.”  
  


“Ohmygosh, it _was_ you, wasn’t it?!” 

She shook her head. “Nope. It’s against the rules to use your semblance against another student.”

Ruby wasn’t convinced in the least, and leapt up to throw her arms around Emerald’s shoulders and tug her in. Her red eyes widened as she was tugged in close, almost pulled off her chair in Ruby’s excitement. Ruby leaned in close - close enough that their faces were dangerously close together, and Emerald’s eyes got even wider at the sudden closeness.

“That was so _cool,_ Emerald!” Ruby cried excitedly, alternating between hugging the dusky-skinned girl and just plain squeezing her. “I mean, kinda mean, but that was _totally cool!_ ”  
  


“Uhm - yeah.” Emerald felt her face heating up from the proximity of their faces, for some odd reason. “W-well, he was being a dick, so -”

“He was!” Ruby giggled, her eyes briefly closing while she laughed, and Emerald find that to be a shame. When her eyes opened again there was a hint of uncertainty there, and her eyebrows dropped into a frown. “He was, for bullying Velvet like that… and I didn’t stop him. Oh, I should have done something!”

Before Emerald’s eyes the girl’s personality changed in an instant, regret filling her eyes and her face scrunching up. Emerald’s chest panged at the sight for some indistinct reason, and she subtly chewed on the inside of her cheek. “I mean - like you said, it’s mean, so it’s probably for the better…?”  
  


Ruby clicked her tongue and shifted back, crossing her arms in a humph and with a burst of speed that was too far to be normal. “Oh, but he was bullying her, and I should've - oh, I could’ve dashed across the room and saved her lunch, or- or knocked his away, or… or tripped him -”

Emerald winced. “Ruby, those aren’t nice things to do.”

  
“Yeah, but -”

“I’d do those kinds of things, because I’m not _that_ nice,” Emerald continued, looking at her firmly. “You’re a nicer girl than I am, Ruby, so -”  
  


“-You always say that, but you’re super nice to me, Emerald! And you stood up to Cardin, which means you _have_ to be nice.”  
  


“I’m nice to you because…” Emerald laughed nervously. “I didn’t really stand up him, anyways. He doesn’t even know. Just… leave these kinds of things to me, alright? You’re going to do a heck of a lot better than me when it comes to saving people from Grimm and keeping people safe, so the least I can do is make a bully humiliate themselves.”  
  


Ruby smiled kindly and knocked their shoulders together. “We’ll both be saving people, Emerald.”  
  


“I mean, I’m less about the saving thing and more the…” She trailed off as she took in Ruby’s earnest stare, and swallowed hard. “Uh, yeah. That’s right.”

Ruby beamed, and Emerald returned the smile as best as she could, wondering why her face felt warm. After a moment they returned to their lunches, and Emerald subtly brushed at her cheeks. She saw Blake staring at her in that moment with a hint of something in her eyes, and Emerald just narrowed her own at the dark-haired girl.

* * *

It was almost two weeks later when she saw Ruby sitting against a dormitory wall, arms around her knees, her small frame still dressed in her school uniform. The school uniforms they wore were different from Signal’s, but the uniform policy was rather lax, given that half the time they were in their ‘combat’ outfits. That meant that alterations to the uniform were common, depending on how people wanted, though Emerald was always focused on the more tantalizing aspects. Some that dipped too low to show off a generous amount of cleavage, others with skirts that barely reached mid-thigh, and those that bared midriffs - Emerald included on the last one; just a sliver of dark, mocha-coloured skin peeking up above her skirt, when she felt like it.

Ruby, though, wore her uniform immaculately, and was all the more adorable for it. It was true that Emerald liked the general sluttier aspects of dress when she was in the mind for it, and Yang was of the same ilk, and very fond of flashing her assets; but Ruby was not - perhaps barely understanding those concepts at all - and Emerald did not mind one bit. Much like her sister, Emerald preferred to keep Ruby out of stuff like that, mild teasing aside. She could _never_ imagine Ruby dressing down from her usual style, and she almost preferred it that way to an almost guilty degree.

“Ruby?” She called out as she approached, and the girl half-heartedly raised her hand and greeted her.

“Hey, Emerald,” she said shakily, a sigh on her lips, and Emerald frowned. She stopped right in front of Ruby and peered down at her, concern in her eyes.

“...Ruby, what’s wrong?”

The girl shrugged, and Emerald frowned even deeper. “Ruby, seriously.”

Ruby made a noise. "It's just...Weiss."

Emerald sighed to herself. She took a seat beside Ruby, sliding her back against the wall until she was right beside the younger girl, close enough for their bodies to touch. "What happened?"

Ruby shrugged helplessly. "I don't know -I'm trying to be team leader but she doesn't think I'm meant for it and I just want to be friends with her and like maybe besties cuz we're partners? And she totally blew up at me and started yelling and now I'm starting to think it's all a mistake and maybe Ozpin is wrong -"

Emerald set a hand on Ruby's arm and squeezed, both to reassure her and stop the endless flood coming out of her mouth at a pace too hard to follow. "Okay, relax. Deep breath, Ruby."

Ruby complied, sucking in a huge breath, and Emerald watched her cheeks puff out with some amusement. "Okay, now out."

The girl exhaled in one big rush and twitched her nose, glancing at Emerald. "Look, Ruby. Some people? They're jerks. I know that pretty well. And Weiss Schnee is a rich girl, and they're like that. I never met one before, but I'd see them walking around like nothing around them mattered - they’re raised being told their better, and Weiss Schnee is the Heiress of Heiresses. She's used to getting what she wants, and now she's venting."

"Yeah, but I don't want her to vent," Ruby protested. "I want her to , well, like me, and get along with us."

Emerald shrugged. "I don't know if she will. Don't know enough about rich folk to say so. Maybe she just needs time to get over herself, you know? I mean, you definitely worked at me until we were friends, and Qrow - well, you know that went."

The redhead giggled. "Yeah..."

Emerald smiled at her. "Plus, we're - we're besties' right? Maybe not partners, but we're scythe-buddies. "

"Of course, Emerald -" Ruby gasped. "Oh, I wasn't trying to say that, like, I'm replacing you -!"

"You'd better not," Emerald said softly, fondly, wrapping an arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulling her close. "You've got my number, obviously, so, like... text me if you want to chat. Or video call. We're only a hall apart, anyways. And you've got Yang to protect you, if Weiss is too rude. Just... give her space, and work at her. I'm sure she'll come around."

Ruby looked at her for a long, lingering moment, before nodding her small head. "You're right, Emerald, like usual. this is probably silly, isn't it? Me not getting along with my partner? I bet you're getting along swell with yours."

Emerald shrugged. "Eh. He's fine. I don't care about him like I do for you - er, you and your sister - so... yeah. There's no rule saying you and your partner need to be best friends, you know."

"But I want to," Ruby stated adamantly, her voice quiet and firm. "I want to try."

"I know you do," Emerald murmured. "Because you're a good person."

There was another lingering silence that saw Emerald stare at Ruby for a long, careful moment, examining her round face and pale features, before she abruptly turned away and cleared her throat. "But let's do something fun to get our minds off this, yes?"

Ruby blinked and tilted her head, Zwei-like. "Like?"

Emerald smirked. "Pretty sure the armoury is open at this time...?"

Ruby jumped to her feet. "Race you there!"

Emerald frowned. "Wait, I can't -"

Then Ruby was off in a flash and a dispersal of rose petals, and Emerald blinked, face blank. "...Keep up with you."

* * *

"Who are you texting?" Her partner asked, a single black eyebrow raised as he looked down at her. He was a well-spoken and collected individual, with the kind of temperament she used to appreciate so much. Most of her team was, in fact, and she felt like she ought to mesh perfectly with them, but something about them didn't click with her. She was too used to the riot of energy that were Yang and Ruby, and now it felt... stagnant.

"No one," Emerald replied passively, fingers thumbing over the display of her scroll.

Her other teammates jutted their heads out from their sections of the room, peering over inquisitively. Due to the nature of the co-ed dorms there were many separators that could be drawn up to make sure everyone had ample privacy, with the room split along halves to separate males and females - something that had Emerald raise an eyebrow thanks to her anatomy, but she'd laughed it off.

"A friend?" Another girl weighed in, sounding as if she was supremely bored.

"She's been texting this person for the last four days almost non-stop, I swear," a second girl said, propping her chin up in her hands as she peered at Emerald over her pillow. "It's gotta be a girlfriend."

"Just a friend," Emerald replied dryly, her scroll buzzing.

_Ruby :) > I didn't know those two chemicals weren't supposed to go together! _

Emerald smiled, her fingers flashing as she typed a reply. _ >I think you should have realized when you burned her eyebrows off. _

_Ruby :) > Hey I didn’t! It was just the ends of her hair I swear! _

_ > Sure, Rubes. That’s why I heard her shrieking from a room over. _

_Ruby :) > :( :( :( _

“People don’t smile like that for friends,” the dark-haired girl noted, staring at Emerald slyly. The green-haired girl looked up in response, her eyes narrowing, and sniffed.

“She’s just a good friend,” Emerald repeated, shaking her head. 

“So it _is_ a she.” The same sly smiled was directed at her, and Emerald tried not to sigh. “Didn’t think you had a girlfriend.”  
  


“She is _not_ my girlfriend,” she said as dismissively as she could manage, hoping her teammates got it through their skulls that she was just messaging a friend. “Just a - a really close friend.”

“Sounds,” the girl drawled, “like denial.”

Emerald scowled at her, her temper flaring up. “It _sounds_ like you’re being a-”  
  


“Alright,” her partner stated, holding up his hands. “If Emerald says she’s just a friend, she’s just a friend. Let’s not drag this on longer than it has to. I’m sure some of you still have homework to finish.”

Emerald snorted out a laugh and sat back on her bed, tuning herself out from her team as best as she could manage. She tried not to let their words linger in her mind, but they did in a way that made it clear they weren’t just dismissive things to her. She _had_ spent an inordinate amount texting Ruby since she’d made the offer, and sure, they had always texted each other quite a bit, but this felt… different. 

And she didn’t dislike it - far from it. She enjoyed talking with Ruby a lot, and maybe more than she should have. She’d never texted _Yang_ this much, that was for sure. And while Emerald hadn’t really given it much thought because, well, she and Ruby were friends, and friends did this kind of stuff, but the implication of _girlfriends_ made her brain start over thinking things. 

_But we’re not,_ Emerald told herself. _We’re just talking because I’m bored in this room and need someone interesting to talk to, and Ruby wants someone the same. And since we’re on different teams, she can’t tell me the usual stuff during the day. It makes logical sense._

For some reason, though, Emerald wondered what it would be like if Ruby wanted to message her just because it was her, and not because they were two friends trapped in different dorms… if that was even what was happening.

_...Why does it matter?_ She thought, frowning, almost lost in her internal musings until her scroll buzzed again.

_Ruby :) > Check out this funny vid dad sent me of zwei!!!! _

_Ruby :) > suuuuuuuuuuuuper cuuuuuuuuuuuute!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!! _

Emerald smiled, and tapped the play button.

  
  


* * *

The semester progressed smoothly enough, as far as Emerald was concerned. Classes were a little strange at times and the professors stranger, but it wasn’t that bad. Her team was competent and her partner was steady, so things worked out well for her, all told. More than one of her classes was shared by team RWBY, giving her ample opportunity to chill with her friends and their partners. Weiss seemed to have warmed to Ruby - relatively speaking - though Blake was still quiet and silent. 

Ruby was good at making friends, it seemed, regardless of her fears on the Bullhead. She’d endeared a few other teams to her, and team JNPR was a common fixture. They were nice enough too, but all Emerald really cared about was being able to chill with the redhead, and that was all. But it was nice, she had to admit, that there were so many friendly faces around her for once, talking and chatting amicably and without any ulterior motives. 

It was about halfway into the semester when both teams were sitting at a lunch table, munching on their food while talking, with Emerald sitting beside Ruby. Her own team was fine with her spending lunch with her ‘other friends’, as they called them, but it wasn’t like Emerald wanted their permission; it was just nice that they didn’t whine about it. That also meant that she was sitting just down from Nora when the girl stood on the table with a booming proclamation of ‘food fight!’, and all hell broke loose.

Emerald didn’t participate. With every piece of food that was thrown she felt her ire rise, her blood boiling more and more. Every splatter on the surface of the tables and decorating the Academy uniforms made the muscles in her jaw twitch and her fingers clench into fists, and her eyes smouldered as her gaze set into a menacing glare. It was such a wasteful mess that it made her physically recoil, and it kept on building and building as the fight dragged on and on until she felt it all boil over.

“What the hell,” she hissed, her voice easily cutting through the noise of the foodfight - or, at least, to those closest - “do you think you guys are _doing!?_ ”

The first person to stop was Ruby, who stared at Emerald, blinking with confusion. No one else did at first, and Emerald’s anger kept on building as yet more words spat out from her lips in fury. “Flinging food around? What’s _wrong_ with you people? Do you even fucking realize how much good food you’re wasting?!”  
  


Yang held up a loaf of bread half-heartedly. “Er, Em, it’s just good fun.”  
  


“It’s just -” An incredulous snort ripped itself from her throat. “It’s just _good fun?_ It’s a _damned waste,_ is what it is. You guys should be fucking ashamed of yourselves.” She flung her arms out. “Look at all this! Wasted food, everywhere! You know how many people this could have fed?!”  
  


More of the teams stopped tossing food around, though others on the fringes kept on doing so. Emerald glared at the offenders with something like a snarl on her lips, but she wasn’t given leave to shout when the others started talking.

“We did not mean anything by it,” Pyrrha said in her proper tones, placing her food back down on the table. “It was just -”  
  


“Oh, it’s fun!” Nora exclaimed, shaking her head excitedly. “Right?”  
  


Jaune scratched the back of his head. “It’s not really hurting anyone, so…”

Emerald stomped her foot, grinding her back teeth together. “It’s not -”

“Hey, guys, it’s cool!” Ruby shouted, speedily slipping between Emerald and JNPR. “It’s okay! I mean, it is good fun, but Emerald’s totally right! We shouldn’t, uhm, be wasting good food.”

“Yeah, but it’s a food fight,” Nora countered, waving around someone’s boxed lunch. “You gotta throw it for it to be fun.”

Ruby winced and glanced at Emerald, who was fuming. “Okay, guys, just please stop and, uhm, start cleaning this up - Emerald?”

Emerald had already scoffed and turned on her heel, immediately storming out of the lunch hall with heavy steps. She reasoned there was no further point in talking to them while they were going to act so inane and childish, and that was that. She just didn’t have the patience to sit there and talk without biting someone’s head off, and she didn’t really care to educate them on their wastefulness, either.

But she still heard footsteps racing over to meet her, and Ruby calling out her name. “Emerald? Emerald!”

Emerald left the hall and made it halfway down the hall before she was tackled from behind by a body moving at supersonic speeds, and Emerald was forced still by the tightness of the following hug.

“Emerald,” Ruby whispered plaintively, “sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

Emerald looked over her shoulder, scrunched up her nose, and sighed. “I’m not mad at you, Ruby. I’m just…”

“Yeah, I get it. You don’t like being wasteful with food.”  
  


“I just don’t see how people _can_ be,” she retorted venomously, and then let her shoulders sag. She half-turned in Ruby’s embrace, trying to set themselves face to face. “But… thanks for trying to get them to stop.”  
  


“I’m sorry for participating, Emerald. I didn’t realize it would make you so sad.” Ruby fidgeted, biting her lip. “I don’t like it when you’re sad.”  
  


“You were just - I’m not -” Emerald sighed, and shook her head. “No, I’m sorry for getting so upset like that. It’s just… Well, you know how Qrow found me, right?”

“Yeah, when he was on his mission.” Ruby frowned up at her. “...What’s that got to do with this…?”  
  


Emerald looked away for a brief second, internally steeling herself. “I was homeless, Ruby. A street rat, making ends meet by robbing people. I never knew when my next meal would come along, or from where, and even if I ate one day, there was never a guarantee I’d be able to eat the next. So seeing everyone just throw it around was…”  
  


“...Wasteful,” Ruby finished, her voice sombre. Her oddly coloured eyes were wide, forming deep pools of gorgeous silver. “I’m sorry, Emerald. I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t want you guys to,” Emerald replied flippantly. “Didn’t want you to think I was a loser, or a leech on your uncle’s skin.”

Ruby gasped. “Emerald, I’d _never -_ ”

She set a placating hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I know that _now,_ but then, I didn’t… and it got too awkward to bring up, after. I’m not saying it now to make you feel bad, but just so that you know _why._ ”

“I get it,” Ruby whispered, sounding as if she really, really did. “Honestly, I do.”  
  


Ruby really didn’t know, of course, and it wasn’t her words that gave Emerald pause. Rather, it was the fact that Ruby didn’t know and yet had interjected herself on her behalf the moment she’d gotten pissed, and had now followed after her just to make sure she was okay. The realization of that cut through the haze of anger that filled her, and made her wonder just when she’d gotten such a good friend.

“Thanks, Ruby,” she said in turn, equally quiet. “I’m sorry for acting like that, but what you did back there was… nice. It, uhm, means a lot to me. Even if I was kind of a jerk.”  
  


“You had every right to,” Ruby said emphatically. “But I have your back, Emerald.” The girl winked. “We may not be partners, but we’re totally besties.”

Emerald stared at her for a moment, and then chanced a smile. “Yeah -besties.”  
  


* * *

“Classes _suck_ ,” Ruby proclaimed, flopping over the library table. Half the time she tried to hit up the books she ended up playing games or doing other things that were absolutely not studying, and when push came to shove, Ruby just wasn’t good at keeping herself down with her nose in her books. She was too energetic to make a solid attempt at it, to both her benefit and detriment. “And studying sucks more.”

“That’s not untrue,” Emerald chuckled, “but I think we’d both like to pass this semester, so it’s probably a good idea to study.”

Ruby pouted at her. “But you’re already doing super good in all these classes. I bet you don’t even need to study!”  
  


Emerald shrugged, smiling. “Maybe.”  
  


“Ahg!” Ruby rubbed at her face comically. “Geez… Too you can’t just pass on the practical stuff.”

“That, I agree with,” Emerald replied. “But we’ve got time. By the time we’re done here, you'll be acing all your classes, Ruby.”  
  


Even though Ruby hated studying, even she knew that she needed to pass everything in order to keep up, and so skipping out and skimping was not an option. Emerald had offered to help her under the guise of a shared studying session, though really, she just wanted to make sure the younger girl excelled. It was an oddly selfless act for someone like her, but when it came to Ruby, she was happy to help however she could. 

“Thanks, Emerald.” Ruby puffed out a breath of air to blow stray strands of hair out of her eyes. “I don’t know if I could do this without you.”  
  


Emerald scoffed. “‘Course you could. I bet even Weiss would help you, what with how close you guys are now.” She coyly nudged Ruby with her elbow. “Hm?”

“Well, I guess we _are_ on much better terms now…” Ruby started, and then caught sight of the glimpse in Emerald’s eyes. “W-wait, what are you -?”  
  


“I’m just saying you guys might be pretty friendly with each other,” Emerald said. She had intended to giggle and act sly like Yang might, but for some reason her breath hitched in her throat and a nervous fluttering spread through her chest, and her teasing words took on a not-so-teasing implication in her mind. 

Ruby balked at her words, and Emerald’s heart thumped. “Oh, geez, no! No, totally not. She’s not, like - I don’t like her like _that._ ”

“Relax,” Emerald reassured, chuckling nervously. Why did it feel like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders? “Just kidding around, Rubes.”  
  


Ruby twitched her nose. “Ah, you and Yang are the _worst._ ”

Emerald snorted out a laugh. “Don’t lump me in with her, _please._ ”  
  


Ruby laughed as well, a cute and tinkling noise that set Emerald off in all the right places. They transitioned into a companionable silence after that and then some idle chatter, as Emerald pulled out several books and started running through things with Ruby. Since they shared a good amount of the same classes it was easy to help her, and Emerald knew exactly what she was struggling with.

But Ruby’s attention span didn’t last long. “So you’re going with Uncle Qrow over break, huh?”

Emerald looked up at her, setting a pencil down. “Yep. He’s got a mission he wants me to come on, or something like that.”

Ruby nodded slowly. “I was hoping you’d come by the house with us, to be honest. See Zwei and dad! And, uhm, celebrate with us.”  
  


Emerald opened her mouth before closing it again. It was, possibly, the first time Emerald had thought about ‘going home’, in that she actually _had_ a home to go to, and people - a family - to spend time with. It made her lips twitch up in a smile, and she made a soft noise to herself. Her hand reached up and brushed through her pale green locks, ruffling them and giving Ruby a smile.

“I’m sure Qrow will have us come by,” she said. “I’m sure it won't be a long mission.”

“You’d better,” Ruby stated firmly, and Emerald’s smile widened. 

“Hey, I’ll force him to come by if I have to,” Emerald reassured her smugly, inflecting a bit of her charisma into her voice, and Ruby smiled wide at her. 

_Ruby’s adorable when she smiles,_ the dark-skinned girl thought to herself. _But then, she always is._

“I’ll hold you to it,” Ruby said, and Emerald raised an eyebrow at her.

“And I’ll hold you to studying,” she smirked, jabbing a finger at their books, and Ruby groaned.

* * *

She spent most of the break with Qrow, running around on his ‘scouting’ missions out in the heartlands of Vale. She was able to put into practice many of the things she’d learned from Beacon, and even garnered Qrow’s approval as she efficiently dispatched Grimm and combated the largest of them without difficulty. Maybe she showed off for him just a bit more than was strictly necessary, but it was the first time she’d had someone to show of _to,_ and it was… nice.

The trip didn’t last long. Qrow was keeping tabs on some targets and potential threats, he said, though nothing overt - he didn’t want to worry her. Emerald would have pushed the issue, but she trusted Qrow to tell her if it was something she needed to worry about. Most of their time was, instead, put toward talking about her school life, how she and the girls were doing, and if anything important was happening. He was really just interested in how she was getting on, and it made her feel oddly fuzzy inside. 

They returned to Taiyang’s house a week before the break ended, and Qrow had chuckled the entire time at how insistent she’d been. They had returned to Patch and the little house with no fanfare, just showing up one day, just as his family expected. The door had barely been open for more than three minutes before Ruby came barreling down the stairs in a burst of rose petals, tackling Emerald so hard she nearly fell flat against the ground. 

“Geez, Ruby,” Emerald laughed. “Relax.”

“Sorry! But I missed you!” Ruby pulled back, smiling bashfully. “I know it hasn’t been that long…”  
  


“No, that’s sweet,” Emerald said hoarsely, swallowing hard. She felt butterflies welling up in her stomach in a way that just wasn’t normal for her. “You could have just messaged me if you were worried…”  
  


There was a hint of accusation in her voice, and for good reason. She’d gotten dead silence from both sisters over the course of her time with Qrow, something that had made her more than a little anxious and tiny bit miffed. She had spent a lot of time talking with Ruby each night at Beacon over their scrolls, and their chat logs stretched into - well, they were incalculably long, and the sudden lack of it was strange. She assumed something was wrong at first, but Yang’s steady social media outpouring gave her some reassurances on that front, but it had certainly built up her anxiousness to return back to Patch. 

“I know!” Ruby said quickly, and then bit her lip. “I really wanted to call and hear your voice, but then I was worried I’d distract you because, like, you’re on a mission and that could be dangerous, and I thought to text, but then what if I did when you were fighting Grimm? And then I wasn’t sure -”

Emerald coughed to clear her throat. “...So you didn’t contact me because you were afraid of… distracting me?”  
  


“Yeah,” Ruby sighed, fidgeting. “That’s silly, I know… but I’m sure it was a really important mission, and I didn’t want to ruin it! Or, uh… cause you to get hurt, because I was distracting you.”

“O-oh,” Emerald replied shakily. “Thanks. But next time… I think I’d like to talk to you. Uh, you know, message me. So I’m not stuck with only Qrow for company.”  
  


Ruby giggled, nodding her head. She looked relieved that Emerald wasn’t angry at her, and Emerald could only think that there was no way she could ever be mad at Ruby. “Promise.”  
  


“Girls,” Taiyang said politely from his position inside the house, “do you want to come inside and not let all the cold air in?”  
  


* * *

The next school semester came upon them quickly, and Emerald found herself back in her dorm faster than she would have liked. She was enjoying just hanging out and chilling at the Xiaolong household with the two sisters, their father, and Qrow, but school fell upon them far faster than she had wanted to. I

She and Ruby fell back into their routine of texting every night, trading idle comments and videos with one another. It was odd to be doing it with someone so relatively close by to her, but the separation of walls and, more importantly, teams, made it feel like so much more. She found herself looking for any excuse during the day that would let her spend more time with team RWBY and, more importantly, Ruby. 

There were no ulterior motives in her mind when she got an ad on her media player for a new movie. She normally swiped right off the annoying things, but she paused as she took in the name of the film, and it hit home with a sudden burst of realization. She thumbed back through her many, many messages with Ruby, and ended up hitting the search function to find her quarry and, yes - it did look like Ruby was a fan of the series.

Which, then, made logical sense for her to tell Ruby, and invite her to see it together. It was the kind of scenario that Emerald considered a win-win - Qrow had given her some allowance to go out and do something on the town, and once his niece new about the film she would go for sure, so it made sense for Emerald to accompany her. She might not understand the movie without watching the series chronologically, but she would get to be beside Ruby for it.

She asked the very next day, and there was almost a frog in her throat when she did. She had no idea why there was, really, but she felt - she felt nervous, actually. 

"What movie?" Ruby asked, frowning, and Emerald mentally kicked herself as she realized she'd opened up with the most comically cheesy line of, 'do you want to see a movie with me?'

"Uh - Grimm Apocalypse fourteen?"

Ruby's eyes went comically wide. "Oh, I love that series! Ohmygosh, let's go! It'll be awesome! You'll love it, Emerald, it's, like - "

"Those movies are cheesy as heck," Yang told her little sister, but was smiling just as broadly. "I'd totally be down to see it."

"Oohh!" Ruby cooed, "A day on the town could be fun!"

Emerald looked between them, frowning just a bit before replying. "Yeah, of course."

Blake pulled at Yang's sleeve, giving the more muscular girl a look. "We're busy doing things tomorrow, Yang."

"...Uh, we are?"

"Yes. Let Emerald and Ruby go on their own, yeah?" Blake's eyes flicked over to Emerald's knowingly, and the dark-skinned girl blinked.

"Er, right. Yeah, sure." Yang looked strangely at Blake. "But what do we gotta do?"

Ruby, for her part, shrugged, and focused herself on Emerald. "I'm happy if it’s just us, too. A lot more cozy!"

Emerald found that it was hard to look away from Ruby's eyes. "Y-yeah. I'll be happy too."

* * *

Ruby was a riot of energy in the city, running from place to place as she saw fit, but they were on a strict schedule to get to the theatre and so she made every effort to keep Ruby reigned in. Tickets were paid for quietly and, as Emerald figured, Ruby wanted the biggest size of popcorn they had, so she purchased that as well. They settled into the movie side-by-side in the nicest seats she could find, and leaned back. It was her first time in a movie theater, actually, and while she knew how things looked and operated through interactions, it was still her first time doing any of it.

It was odd, but she didn't really focus on that, or the movie at all. She kept glancing over at the small girl to her right, who was eagerly sitting forward and watching the movie with wide eyes, practically shoving popcorn into her mouth. The darkness of the theater offered her privacy as she looked Ruby over, and the lack of anyone else just left it as them time. And sometimes Ruby would look over shyly, match her gaze with a smile and offer some popcorn, and Emerald would smile fondly. 

Emerald had imagined her first time in a movie theater being something.... more. Or, at least, she expected to be more interested in the movie on the screen rather than the girl next to her, but that didn't turn out to be true. As the movie dragged on Ruby got closer and closer to Emerald, and whether it was intentional or not, the two were eventually side by side, shoulders rubbing over the armrest of the chair. It was with a bold move that Emerald threw her arm out to the side to cross that last gap between them, and was rewarded by a soft, happy noise from Ruby, and Emerald blushed hard.

The movie didn’t last long, but it was enough for Ruby to act like it was the greatest thing in the world since her scythe, and she was very vocal in her praise. Emerald just sort of nodded along with her, weighing in whenever she could remember enough of the plot or the action scenes to contribute, but otherwise just letting the girl talk her fill. 

“It. Was. _Awesome,_ ” Ruby concluded matter-of-factly, nodding her head happily. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize it was out - thanks, Emerald, for telling me. You’re the _best._ ”

“No problem,” Emerald replied smoothly, brushing her green fringes back. Her red eyes glanced over at Ruby before looking back, subtly chewing her lip. “I had fun.”

“So did I!” Ruby smiled brightly at her. “I mean, it _would_ have been nice for everyone to come -”

Emerald swallowed, feeling her spirits sink for a brief moment.

“-But being alone with you is nice!” Ruby finished, her cheeks a tiny bit pink. “Really nice. I like having time just for the two of us.” She fidgeted. “Do you like that t-”

“Yes,” Emerald said, just a tad too quickly. She glanced away and cleared her throat, and smiled nervously. “I mean… yes.”

Ruby smiled sweetly, knocking her foot against the ground in an almost bashful way. “You know, we don’t have to go right back to Beacon now that we’re here, right?”

Emerald smirked. “I guess not, no.”

“Soooo…” Ruby twirled around, her combat skirt flaring. “Let’s do things! Like - like ice-cream!”

Emerald chuckled. “You just ate a whole thing of popcorn.”  
  


“Yeah, I ate my fill of _popcorn,_ ” Ruby emphasized, tilting her chin up. “Now it’s time for ice-cream!”

“Well, lead on, then, team leader.”

* * *

Never had Emerald had a more embarrassing moment in her life than when Ruby wanted to try three ice cream flavours too many, resulting in both of them grabbing two and then _sharing._ Emerald did very little tasting of Ruby’s, but Ruby wasn’t shy at all, and the girl was half-coaxed onto her lap just to lick at her ice cream. 

They didn’t just spend time eating ice-cream, but running around to shops and idly browsing through the streets. Ruby wasn’t like any sort of ‘typical’ girl and mainly urged her into stores that featured combat goods, weapons, and the like. They spent more than a little amount of time in a parts store browsing through the latest mecha-shift patterns that had come off the assembly lines, and lounged around in Dust stores looking through selections of the fine powder and bullet casings.

Emerald never went shopping before either - not really - and most of her experience with stores came from walking by them and admiring them through the windows, or robbing them. Sure, she’d gone shopping on Patch, but this was a big city and with all the implications that came with it. She found herself staring at some of the nicer stores with their more elaborate accessories and clothing, and while she knew she couldn’t afford them at present, there was a lingering thought in the back of her mind that she’d one day be able to afford one properly.

And Ruby noticed, and eagerly pushed her inside them. Emerald protested, given that she couldn’t buy anything and that it wasn’t a store Ruby wanted to visit, but Ruby merely said that she was happy if Emerald was happy, and that was that. It wasn’t like Emerald could protest when she was blushing anyhow, and had timidly looked through the clothing selections and the jewelry on display. Ruby was a constant, reassuring presence at her side, and though she knew as little about fashion as Emerald did, she eagerly chirped her opinions, but to Emerald’s amusement.

It was a nice afternoon, all told. She didn’t even realize how long they had been out together until the sun started to dip, and Yang got worried for them and called both their scrolls - at the same time, somehow. It was with shy smiles that they returned back to Beacon, sitting side by side on the last Bullhead back, glancing at one another out of the corners of their eyes.

“That was nice,” Ruby said again, just smiling gently.

“It was,” Emerald replied, her words measured. “We should do this again sometime.”

Ruby nodded excitedly. “Mhm! Yeah, I’d like that.”

Emerald grinned, and her heart soared. 

* * *

A week passed, and not much changed. Emerald still did all the same things as usual, texting Ruby and hanging out with her, spending more time with their team than she did with her own, and all the other usual stuff. Just being near Ruby made her feel a mixture of excitement and levity, and it was like Emerald couldn’t get enough. But that was tempered through the with lingering thought that it was _Ruby,_ her friend, and that she was acting silly over it.

She was studying in the library when Blake found her, quietly sliding into the seat across from her, a heavy book held in her hands. Emerald only raised an eyebrow at her appearance, not quite expecting the girl to bother sitting with her. They weren’t on bad terms, per se, and were generally friendly, but that was more because of Emerald’s habit of acting kind, and Blake being Ruby’s friend.

“Hey,” was what she settled for in greeting, punctuating it with a small smile.

“Hello,” Blake replied evenly, ears twitching. Emerald barely paid them any focus and returned her gaze to her book. “Studying?”

“Yep,” Emerald replied evenly. “Just in case of surprise quizzes, you know.”

The Faunus girl hummed. There was a moment of silence before Blake spoke again, but the entire time she watched Emerald to the point where it got unnerving. “I never thanked you for your help, I think.”  
  


Emerald blinked and looked up.

“With the White Fang,” Blake elaborated, her tone hushed. “I never thanked you.”

Emerald smiled kindly. “It was no problem.”

Ruby had come to her one day, looking panicked and scared, saying something about Blake running off after she’d unintentionally told them she was a Faunus. Emerald had always suspected it, since her old scrutinizing-marks talent never really faded, but she’d opted to not say anything. Regardless, she’d accepted the moment that Ruby had asked her for help with those puppy-dog eyes, and Emerald’s semblance had proved invaluable when dealing with the White Fang guards they encountered later.

“It was very kind of you,” Blake said slowly. “I know you weren’t there for me, but you still put yourself in danger anyways.”  
  


“I-” The shadow of a frown passed over her face. “You were missing, and Ruby was sad, so I-”  
  


“You don’t have to be nice with me, it’s fine,” Blake told her dismissively, and Emerald’s mouth formed an even line. “I know you were there for Ruby, and that’s cool. I just wanted to say thanks.”

“...Well.” Emerald shifted and shrugged. “I did only help because Ruby asked. But I wouldn’t have turned my back, even if they didn’t ask. You’re not my friend, but I don’t… dislike you.”  
  


Blake’s lips curved up. “Likewise. You’re nice on the inside, and I know I’ve been standoffish. I’d like to think we could be friends.”

Emerald shrugged again. “We could be, I think.”  
  


“But,” Blake drawled, “That’s not why I’m here.”

Emerald frowned. 

  
“You seem to really like Ruby,” Blake told her, and Emerald wanted to scoff. “A lot. I’m pretty sure you’ve got feelings for her - or am I wrong?”  
  


Emerald blinked, feeling her heart thump in all the wrong ways. “I’m not sure what you’re saying?”  
  


Blake rolled eyes. “I was hoping you would finally get together on your date, but you guys came back in the same state of limbo.”  
  


“It wasn’t a date,” Emerald protested with a nervous laugh, and Blake looked at her deadpan. 

“Really?”

“...Really.”  
  


“Well, maybe you don’t care for Ruby,” Blake sniffed.

“We’re just friends,” Emerald stated, wondering why Blake was backing down so fast.

“I don’t know if Ruby sees it like that,” Blake said casually, and Emerald froze. “She’s always talking about you, asking about you, _texting_ you…”  
  


“We don’t text that much,” Emerald scoffed, and Blake scoffed _louder._

“She’s talking with you every night. I’ve got good hearing; I know.”

Emerald bit her lip. "Okay, so we are. But -"

"She's head over heels for you," Blake told her, shaking her head. "Even Yang can tell, but she's far less fed up than I am at this."

"Yang," Emerald muttered. "Yang would kill me if I tried looking at her sister the wrong way."

Blake rolled her eyes."I said Yang could tell, not that she disapproved."

Emerald bit her lip. "That doesn't make it not weird. She's Qrow's niece - that would be, like... He didn’t send me here to date his family.”

Blake shrugged. "I won't pretend to understand your situation. But you helped me out with no personal motive other than Ruby, so I'm here to return the favour with some advice: ask her out, properly. She really likes you. You really like her. That's it, ok?"

Blake got up, clutching her book. "And do it quick, so Weiss and I can stop hearing Ruby ask if you actually like her or if you're just humouring her."

Emerald stared. "Wait, Ruby says that? She -"

But Blake was already walking off, and Emerald was left blinking, with too many thoughts in her head.

* * *

She didn't act on the advice immediately, and she was unsure if she was going to even try when a day turned into two, and then into four, and then the weekend hit and she was still torn on the issue. Her team had left for the weekend to go into Vale and attend some new waterpark hotel thing that had opened up, but Emerald couldn't bring herself to care about it - her mind was bent towards Ruby. She assumed that much of what Blake said was hyperbole, but the possibility that it wasn't left her floundering.

She did like Ruby. She was sure that she liked her more than she had anyone else, barring, perhaps, Qrow, but that was a relationship born of the utmost loyalty. It would be a betrayal to then go behind his back to date and sleep with his niece, right? And Emerald wouldn't do that to Qrow, or Yang, or Taiyang, that was for sure.

But Emerald also had to come to grips with the fact that Ruby meant a lot to her, and that she felt like gold when Ruby was around her. Emerald had been no stranger to picking up girls before, and even at Signal dallied around, but since Beacon? Since she'd been side-by-side with Ruby day after day? she hadn't touched a single person, and if Emerald really tried to think back on it, she was sure she hadn't slept with anyone during the months where she and Ruby spent so much time together back home. 

The thought made her unbearably nervous to the point of inaction. She didn't know what to do, and so she settled for just doing... nothing. She still texted Ruby, of course, but their exchanges were shorter, her responses stilted as her emotions tore her apart internally and stripped her bare. She was sure Ruby had noticed that, as well as her infrequent random blushing and the quick glances. Her only hope was that Ruby was too innocent to know better.

That didn't stop her heart from pounding hard in her chest when she received a message from Ruby while she sat lying on her bed, and a tremor passed through her. 

_Ruby <3 >can i come by? Blake said you were alone! want to hang out? _

Emerald swallowed roughly. She should say no, but that would be incriminating, wouldn't it? 

_ > Sure! _

The response was instant. 

_Ruby <3 > Cool be right there!!!! _

Emerald swallowed hard and tilted her head back, a sigh leaving her lips. She just sat there, willowing in her state of unsurety, up until a knock rang out on the door. Ruby was as quick as she said she'd be, and while they lived relatively close by, Ruby must have used her power to dash over. Emerald crossed the room and pulled the door open, revealing a beaming Ruby in casual clothes. She was significantly more dressed than Emerald was, as Emerald was only in her white pants and green top and nothing else, while Ruby had her combat skirt and shirt on.

"Hey, Ruby," Emerald greeted, ushering her in and closing the door.

"This is a very... neat dorm," Ruby commented. 

"Yeah, it's not a mess like yours," Emerald chuckled, and Ruby pouted.

"It's character," she insisted, tilting her chin up. "My first time in here, I think."

"We usually head over to yours," Emerald pointed out. "Speaking of, wouldn't you rather be with everyone else? We could all watch a movie or play games, or something."

Ruby shook her small head. "Yeah, but I - I kinda wanted to just spend time with you, and, uhm, talk to you. And Blake said it was better to do that in quiet."

Emerald blinked. "Blake, huh?"

Ruby nodded. "Actually, Emerald, I wanted to, uhm." She fidgeted, wringing her hands. "IjustwantedtosayIthinkyou'rereallycoolandIreallylikeyou!"

Emerald frowned. "...Ruby, I can't understand when you talk that fast."

Ruby stepped back, hesitant, and took in a deep breath. "Emerald, I really, really like you, and I think you're the coolest person I've ever met."

Emerald stopped, stared, brain blank. "I... I don’t -”

Ruby cocked her head in that way that Emerald found terribly adorable. "I don't really know how, uhm, confessions work, a-and Weiss said flowers but I don't know where to get nice flowers that match your eyes and Blake said to just be honest so, uhm... here I am! A-and I really like you!" 

The younger girl swallowed hard. "...Am I going to fast? O-or am I doing this wrong?"

Emerald shook her head with stilted, puppet-like motions. "N-no, not at all, Ruby. I'm just... surprised. I didn't think - I mean, I hoped that you - Uhm."

Ruby bit her lip. “So… Do you like me, too?”

Emerald sucked in a breath. “Yeah, I - I do really like you, Ruby. I just - you know, with your uncle and your sister, I wasn’t sure if - I’m not sure if -”

Any further words were totally cut off as Ruby tackled her, arms around her neck. The force of her semblance-powered leap bore Emerald down onto her bed, and she flopped onto it with a muffled laugh. “Ruby -”  
  


“Emerald.” Ruby’s voice was soft and sweet and enough to give the dark-skinned girl pause. “You _like_ me.”  
  


“...I do, yes.”  
  


Ruby was beaming. “That’s awesome! I was just so worried that you wouldn't feel the same because I’m younger and stuff, so -”

Emerald snorted. “Why would you even _think_ that I wouldn't like you because you’re _younger?_ ”  
  


Ruby shrugged timidly. “I always saw you with, uhm, older girls at Signal. I thought you… had that… ‘type?’ Yang called it a type. And I’m not older, or… experienced, so I wasn’t sure.”

“Patch?” Emerald frowned. “...Ruby, did you like me back then, too?”

Ruby flushed, but nodded. “Yeah. You’re really cool! And a really good friend. But I guess I didn’t really know I like-liked you until we got here.”  
  


Emerald swallowed hard. She felt like she was blushing just as hard as Ruby was. “I, uh. I’m not _sure_ if I knew back then, but… Yeah. I’ve liked you for a long time. I guess I just never really wanted to consider it, because of your family. You guys have been really good to me, so it seemed… awkward?”  
  


Ruby blinked. “Why would it be awkward?”

“Because I -” Emerald hesitated, frowning. “I didn’t think it would be appropriate to date Qrow’s niece after he helped me?”  
  


The redhead smiled all silly-like. “You want to date me?”  
  


“Yeah, of course I do - _that’s_ what you focused on, there?”

Ruby giggled. “Of course! That’s the best part.”  
  


“But your family -”  
  


“Why does that matter if we’re happy?” Ruby questioned innocently, and it gave Emerald pause.

“I… I don’t know,” she replied truthfully, frowning again. 

Ruby smiled, her brilliant silver eyes practically pulling Emerald in. “Emerald Sustrai, would you be my girlfriend?”

Emerald swallowed hard while still trying to stutter out a laugh. “I don’t know if people say it quite like that anymore.”

Ruby’s face scrunched up. “So -”

Ruby’s eyes were too wide, too silver, too entrancing. It was like Emerald was being pulled into them face-first, or maybe it was just her natural instinct after spending so much time fooling around. Her head tilted down toward Ruby’s, and from such a close distance she could make out every minute detail on her porcelain skin, including the blush dusting her cheeks. Her pupils were almost full dilated as Emerald closed in, and the girl’s eyes fluttered closed when Emerald’s lips touched hers.

Emerald would never have entertained the thought of taking Ruby’s first kiss. She’d dreamt it before, of course, and as she was an especially pent-up futa, such fever dreams were natural when she went so long without getting laid; but she hadn’t been getting laid because of her feelings for Ruby, and this was like utter bliss. _She_ was Ruby’s first kiss - or so she hoped - and it sent her mind soaring and trembles down her spine. And the best part was that Ruby wasn’t pulling away, or shoving her back, or trying to escape her kiss at all, and as the seconds ticked by, Ruby even leaned into it.

The green-haired girl sighed shakily into Ruby’s mouth, shifting a bit so that she could kiss her properly. Her lips were soft as sin, and while Emerald’s were nice and plush, there wasn’t much of a comparison between them; though, that might have been favouritism talking. She kissed Ruby long and slow, just savouring the taste of her lips that were coated with strawberry lip balm, making no effort to deepen the kiss. Emerald wasn’t sure when the last time she’d taken such satisfaction from just _kissing_ was, but she certainly was very much. Emerald pulled back, her lips slipping away with a soft whisper. Ruby whined plaintively, and Emerald fought to reign in her emotions. 

“I would love to be your girlfriend, Ruby Rose,” she husked, her voice thickening with long-repressed sexual desires. It was an entirely unintentional, but she felt Ruby shuffle in response, and Emerald was suddenly, painfully aware that Ruby was sitting _on her lap,_ her leg pressed into the bulge of her cock.

Ruby didn’t reply, as she was to busy smiling triumphantly. Her arms tightened around Emerald’s neck as she tilted her face up, and Emerald dipped her head back down for another kiss, moving purely on instinct and desire for Ruby. Ruby was too innocent to really know what she was doing, other than that she was kissing her first girlfriend and very much enjoying it. Emerald was enjoying it too much to pull back or slow things down, but then, it wasn’t like kissing was going _fast._

But Emerald wanted it to. Her body was practically screaming for it, her belly burning with the smouldering fire of desire as the object of her affections sat in her lap so dainty-like and locked lips intimately with her. Emerald found herself deepening the kiss without conscious thought, sliding her tongue across Ruby’s lips as a silent request for entry. Ruby was too unsure to reject such a request, and her lips parted slightly as Emerald’s tongue pushed between them; that was all the green-haired girl needed to push her tongue all the way inside, entering the warm cavern of her mouth.

She groaned from deep in her throat, a sound that made Ruby reciprocate with a whimper. Ruby was unsure with the new sensations and intimacy offered by the tongue to tongue kiss, but Emerald wasn’t there to plunder her mouth like Ruby was some sort of schoolgirl hook-up; she liked her so much her heart pounded in her chest, and she treated her gently, carefully - she treated her right. She guided her tongue down in slow, sweeping motions, showing Ruby how to move in reciprocation to her own and gently urging her into the right pacing. It wasn’t something that a girl on her first try could master, but the act of Ruby _trying_ made Emerald’s heart soar and spine tingle.

They had to pull back for air more than once, and Ruby was shy and bashful on each occasion, but she didn’t shy away from the kissing. Emerald’s hand rose up to the girl’s - _my girlfriend,_ she thought gleefully - chin and tilted it up, her fingers reassuringly cradling the round curve as they kissed deeply. Ruby’s soft, almost squeaky moans were a delight, and Emerald lavished both in them and the knowledge that _she_ was the one pulling those sounds from her pretty pink lips. She tilted their heads together as she kissed Ruby soft and firm, holding back her full skill to keep from overwhelming Ruby.

Ruby squirmed under her kiss, and unintentionally rubbed herself all across Emerald’s rapidly hardening length. She couldn’t have known the effect she was having, but tremors shot through Emerald’s curvier frame with each accidental roll and rub. As her length got harder and stiffened out further it became increasingly more painful and pleasurable, a combination that made Emerald groan and grunt. 

Ruby pulled away softly, her lips so tender against Emerald’s own that it made her crave more contact. “Am I hurting you?”

Emerald squinted. “Sorry? What?”  
  


“Am I -” Ruby bit her lip, glancing down. “You’re making a lot of loud noises, so I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong -”

Emerald let out a shaky, lust-fuelled sigh. “Definitely not doing something wrong, Ruby, baby,” Emerald husked, her hand sliding up the curve of her jaw to brush at her short, dark locks. “I’m just a little… excited right now, is all.”

“Like…”

“Like I was with those _other_ girls, Ruby.”  
  


“Oh.” Ruby’s eyes widened. “Oh.”  
  


“Don’t worry,” Emerald whispered, planting a soft kiss on Ruby’s sweet, strawberry-flavoured lips. “We’re just -”  
  


“-I don’t want you to hold back for me,” Ruby whispered, and Emerald shivered. “We can do _those things_ if you want. I - I kinda want to, with you.”

Emerald’s breathing hiked. “Ruby, I’m not - I’m pretty pent-up. It’s been a while for me, and that might be too much for your first time -”  
  


“That’s what girlfriends do, right?” Ruby questioned, kissing Emerald back. “I want to be the best girlfriend I can for you.”  
  


“You don’t have to do _that,_ ” Emerald protested, but Ruby wasn’t letting up on the grinding motions of her lower half was making it extremely hard to think right now. 

“I want to, Emerald,” Ruby murmured against her lips. While there was uncertainty in her eyes, there was no hesitancy; she was confident in that she wanted Emerald, and while she was clearly too innocent to know everything that might entail, she was willing to try for her. “I know I don’t know things, but I don’t want us to hold back from each other, okay? And -” Ruby stopped, and blushed brilliantly. “Sometimes I think about you like that. You’re very pretty.”

The floodgates broke, and Emerald growled lustfully. “You’re so _cute,_ ” she purred, her hands encircling Ruby’s waist. Her fingers played with the hemline of Ruby’s shirt, her fingertips prodding at the slivers of cool, white skin underneath. “But if I start, Ruby, I don’t think I can stop until I’m satisfied.”  
  


“It’s fine, Emerald,” Ruby murmured, and that was all the permission the horny futa needed. She dragged up the girl’s shirt, revealing inch after inch of perfectly smooth and unblemished white skin, which Emerald greedily stroked with her fingers. Ruby whimpered at her touch, and Emerald silenced her with another kiss; it was brief, though, as soon she was whispering for Ruby to hold her arms up while she removed the shirt entirely. All Ruby had on her chest was a sports bra to contain her modest B-cups, but for some reason made Emerald’s arousal burn in her veins. She removed that, too, diligently rolling it off Ruby’s frame.

“Tell me if it’s too much,” she murmured, and Ruby nodded, biting her lip. Emerald’s head dipped down and her mouth latched onto Ruby’s slim collarbones, kissing the pale skin under her lips. Ruby shivered predictably, as it was the first time she’d had a wet mouth plant kisses on her fair skin, and she was sensitive to it. She bit her lip harder as Emerald’s mouth moved downward, leaving a path of fluttering kisses until she reached one of the girl’s modest breasts. They hadn’t filled out yet, but Emerald didn’t mind, or care if that came with age or not; they were Ruby’s, and that was enough. 

She flicked her tongue over a pert pink nipple, drawing a little whimper from the girl’s lips. Emerald did so again and again, lashing the slender nub with the use of her tongue, rolling the slimy muscle around the rubber protrusion and stimulating it as best as she could. Ruby squirmed on her lap, pushing into her cock unintentionally, and Emerald groaned lustfully. She pulled Ruby’s nipple into her mouth and surrounded it with her plush lips, suckling it hard and fast while lavishing it with the twirls and flexes of her tongue, and Ruby shivered ever more. 

Emerald’s hands dipped down to the girl’s waist, encircling the thin curves with her hands. Her mouth popped off of Ruby's nipple and danced upward, this time licking a clean path between her pert breasts and up to her neck. With the same action she started to shift her body around, using her superior strength to lift Rub’s feather-light body and turn her over. The girl’s thin arms were still around her neck and made sure that she was secured, and Emerald turned her over and bore her down onto the bed. She set Ruby on her back, head on her pillow, and then Emerald began to rise up and clamber over her new girlfriend. 

Her own breasts were held tight in her green sports bra, and her torso was already bare thanks to her hunter’s outfit. It just left her tight pants, and she could feel just how tight they were as her long cock struggled to break free of their clinging confines, and the friction of it was starting to drive Emerald insane. But she focused on Ruby, first, her mouth traveling up and setting kisses along the slender curve of her neck while her hands worked at Ruby’s skirt. It came off easy, practically falling apart under her questing hands, and Emerald didn’t even have to look as she worked; her face was too busy being buried in Ruby’s neck, running her lips over the curve of her jawline and over long, lean lines. Ruby shuddered as her sensitive neck was kissed and suckled, and Emerald pressed on with each lick of her tongue and slurp of her mouth.

“E-Emerald,” Ruby moaned, her sweet voice rising up as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Emerald’s mouth slipped up and she pressed her lips against Ruby’s, her hands hovering around the girl’s waist and stroking at her skin. Her tongue danced with Ruby’s, attempting to match the younger girl’s clumsy, inexpert motions and guide her into a more proper rhythm. She eventually pulled away, saliva bridging the gap between their mouths, and sat up straight atop Ruby’s legs. She quickly tore off her own top and allowed her fleshy chest to bounce free, and Ruby’s eyes widened at the sight of them. While Emerald didn’t have the size, heft, or softness that Yang did, she was only a cup size smaller, and more than enough for anyone to salivate over.

“Wow,” Ruby whispered, and Emerald felt a surge of pride go through her, even though she’d been complimented plenty of times before. But while she would normally tease a girl along and let her compliment her body, say how much they enjoyed her, here and now she just preened at Ruby’s awed expression. 

But Emerald couldn’t sit back, inactive, for very long. She started to shimmy her white breeches off, tugging on her zipper and struggling to free her behemoth of a cock from the tightness of them. Ruby only stared and inhaled as Emerald’s mountain of mocha-coloured cockmeat flopped free, jutting out like an iron-hard log. She stared at it tentatively, and Emerald felt her heart skip a beat as she wondered if Ruby would shy away from her size - she was _big,_ and while that suited many active girls just fine, Ruby was nothing like those sluts.

Ruby didn’t shy away, and spread her arms out as if begging Emerald to lower herself. The dark-skinned girl did, dipping down over her girlfriend’s body, with her breasts hanging under their weight. Ruby’s hands landed on her face and cupped her jaw, and Emerald was the one to deepen that into another kiss. Her dick slapped down against Ruby’s pelvis, the bulbous tip grinding into her pale skin. Ruby’s hips moved in reply, gently bucking from the strange, foreign touch, and that sent her silky-smooth skin sliding over the sensitive cockhead and made Emerald groan into her mouth. 

Emerald pulled back, huffing in a breath. “Wait, shit,” she swore, and Ruby blinked up at her. She leaned over the younger girl, accidentally shoving her breasts in her face, while she reached over to her dresser. She pulled out a condom wrapper from the first drawer, and ripped it open quickly. 

Ruby blinked at the plastic in her hands, and then blinked again when Emerald rose back up and rolled the rubber over her dick. “Emerald?”  
  


“Protection,” Emerald murmured, looking her in the eye. “Just in case. I, uh, release a lot. And, you know, risks.”

“I don’t mind -”  
  


Emerald leaned over her again, her dick now wrapped up in a rubber condom. “I don’t want to cause any trouble for you, Ruby.”

Ruby blushed. “O-ok.”

Emerald could only hope that the condom would actually work, though. She’d purchased a bunch of the over-sized ones for whenever someone wanted to fuck, but they had sat in her dresser, untouched, for months. They never seemed to work for her, either, as she came _a lot,_ and she was too big for most rubbers to handle, leading to a few unexpected creampies. At least, that was a better ratio than her days travelling with Qrow and her general street life; she didn’t even want to think about how many times she’d successfully passed her genes around.

But she wanted to treat Ruby right, here, and so the condom was a must. As she bore down on the girl for a second time her dickhead brushed up against her slit, and Ruby yelped softly. Her hands rose up to Emerald’s neck as she sought purchase for what was to follow, which was wise, considering Emerald’s size and her furious arousal. She pushed down softly and gently, attempting to push her dick into Ruby’s inexperienced tightness. Petals parted around her fat dickhead, unable to put up any resistance to her oversized rod, but the tightness was enough to prevent any swift entry. 

Ruby was surprisingly wet, though, something that Emerald noted only dimly, due to the rubber condom. She wasn’t sure if that was a result of her paltry foreplay or the simple fact that they were there, doing this _together,_ but either way, it aided in her movements. Ruby’s face tightened and her toes curled in as the cock bored into her core, sliding in centimeter by centimeter. She set herself atop of Ruby as her hips steadily pushed down and drove her cock into the girl's tightness, her legs gently parting Ruby’s to make more room for herself.

Her breasts weighed down on Ruby’s chest, the fatter mounds squishing softly whenever Emerald’s spine dipped. Their nipples brushed together and sent thrills through Emerald’s body, which was visibly mirrored by Ruby as she made whimpering noises. Emerald’s flat, trim stomach rolled as she pushed herself inside, panting as her dick sank into Ruby’s plush pussy at a slow, languorous pace, gently driving each inch inside. Her size was enough to stretch Ruby out around her, and Emerald was afraid of taking her too hard, or being too forceful, and to that end she moved gently and carefully. 

“Are you okay?” Emerald asked, her voice rough and ragged.

Ruby nodded quickly and shakily. “Y-yeah - I -I feel so full.”

Emerald had nothing to answer with, but allowed herself to be pulled into the redhead’s embrace and tugged down so that their mouths could meet once again. They kissed as her cock stretched out Ruby’s tiny, narrow slit, burrowing into her slick tunnel at a slow, relentless pace. Soft walls squirmed around her as she pushed, in response to her egregious size and the girth of her meat. She pushed herself down to the halfway mark, feeling Ruby’s cunt ripple out around her in ways that made Emerald shiver with satisfaction.

She felt Ruby’s legs curl and kick at the bedding, struggling to cope with the sudden fullness of so many inches of hard dickmeat, while her hands tightened around Emerald’s neck. The kissing grew sloppy as Ruby lost focus, unable to handle both kissing and taking the dick a the same time, but Emerald made up for it by pulling back and lavishing her face with feathery kisses. Her hips flexed as she pushed a few more inches into Ruby’s warmth, enjoying the vice-like tightness that squeezed down and pressured her girth, and a needy noise left her lips.

She didn’t drive herself in all the way, not yet. She extracted her throbbing length at the same slow pace she drove it in, moving with the intent of mutual pleasure and allowing Ruby to grow accustomed to having something so big inside her. Other girls liked a rough fucking, but Ruby deserved better, and Emerald would happily give it to her. Her dick was gripped tight by those walls as she pulled out, almost as if they didn’t want her to leave, but that was simply to her tightness and the sheer girth of her girldick.

Emerald reversed course once her cocktip was the only thing left inside Ruby’s tunnel, and her hips had pulled back to their zenith. She gave the girl a moment to adjust underneath her before pushing back in with that same slow pace, and felt those inner walls stretch out all over again. Ruby’s tightness maintained its shape and had sprung back into place instantly, and so she was as tight on the second push as she was during the first. The effect of being stretched out again was exactly the same for Ruby, and she squirmed and mewled under Emerald’s curvier frame as her fat girldick was solidly driven into her dripping warmth again.

The mocha-skinned girl continued to lick and kiss Ruby’s face, neck, and shoulders, easily leaving red hickeys on her moon-pale flesh. Her smaller body rocked under Emerald’s with each solid push of her hips, and she was easily and effortlessly driven to the point of pleasure by the riot of sensations. She didn’t seem to be in discomfort or pain from the size of her dick at all, and her pink walls accepted whatever was thrust inside; not easily, but resolutely, and Emerald took what she could as her hips pushed in.

It was with a needy grunt that Emerald stopped her motions again and pulled back, and Ruby’s hands tightened around her neck. Emerald lowered herself further into Ruby’s arms as her hips moved fractionally faster, drawing her obscenely swollen cock out of her clamping warmth before shoving it back inside with a groan and a grunt. Ruby’s pussy was painfully tight and gripped her like a vice no matter how much she tried to stretch her out, but each back and forth motion she made allowed her to get just a tiny bit more inside. It wasn’t easy work, and her pace was slow and steady, but she firmly worked at her girlfriend’s pussy and gradually loosened it. 

“E-Emerald,” Ruby gasped weakly, clawing at her neck. “E-Em-merald.”

Ruby just indistinctly groaned her name as her hips thrust back and forth, sliding in and out of her snatch at the same slow pace the entire time. Her fat dickhead led the way and pushed spongy walls out around her, delving in as deep as she could manage on each go before it became clear that Ruby could not take any more. Her cock throbbed as it demanded that it be shoved inside all the way, but she maintained her pace and kept it deliberate, and that was still enough for Emerald to find bliss. The tightness was awesome, and the friction delightful; though, she had to say that the rubber made it all feel indistinct, which was a necessary shame.

Her breasts bounced as she moved, swaying as she gradually sank inside. Her body hovered just over Ruby’s and her tits brushed her skin over and over, the colour of them contrasting deliciously with the paleness of Ruby’s skin. The warm colours of her skin meshed perfectly with Ruby’s, and everywhere they touched it was like a gorgeous contrast of color. It was something that appealed to Emerald’s horny mind, and she lavished in it.

She lavished in everything, really. The fact that it was Ruby under her right then, that it was her pussy wrapped snugly around her cock like a glove, that it was her making those cute noises, riled up Emerald more than she would have believed. It was more than just indulging in a pretty girl, which had always been her weakness; it was that it was Ruby, the girl she was unbearably attracted to, and it entirely set her off. It was natural that those feelings made her move just a bit faster and a bit firmer, sinking more of her fat, throbbing prick inside as emotion coursed through her veins, and Ruby reacted positively.

Ruby was groaning too, her body shivering and cunt quivering as it was impaled over and over. The size of Emerald’s cock was enough to make her feel impossible pleasures, her sensitive spots touched and prodded all at the same time as it bore in, and Ruby simply didn’t know how to cope with that. Her body rocked and shook under Emerald’s curves, eager whines and yelps leaving her lips, and Emerald indulged in those sweet sounds and the delightful sights. She moved her hips to match those noises, her pace unintentionally speeding up as she tried to tease more moans from Ruby.

Her body undulated, not quite thrusting but sliding in and out like a wave. It wasn’t easy to get herself inside, but Ruby’s cunt was worn looser by her relentless pace, and the pleasure assaulting it gave her more leeway as it rippled. It still fit her like a snug glove, and the friction of moving through something so tight was awesome, and her cock tingled and throbbed with unbearable pleasure no matter how fast or slow she moved. Almost all of her cock was inside of her cunt now, almost three-fourths of the thick log of dickmeat buried in Ruby’s soft flesh with each forward push and slow withdrawal, and it left her groaning. 

When Ruby climaxed it came upon them both suddenly and without warning, though Emerald really should have seen the signs of it - the sudden wild rippling of her silken tunnel, the clenching of Ruby’s limbs and the fluttering of her eyes. Though Emerald had done very little to drive her to such an extent, the size of her dick, the deliberate pacing that teased and touched every portion of her cunt, and the attempt to match her pacing had been enough to drive Ruby right up to the edge.

Her cunt squeezed down even harder as she climaxed, her body rolling and shaking underneath Emerald, her limbs locking and tightening. She squealed and moaned sweetly, tugging Emerald close, and the green-haired girl collapsed down on her and was forced tight enough that her breasts bulged out between the seal of their bodies, and a lusty groan left Emerald’s lips. The sudden clamping was more than enough to make her hiss and shake, and she tried to ride out Ruby’s climax, but it was easy to keep control of herself.

Her hips did not stop moving the entire time, her cock powering forward through the squeezing, rippling walls that hugged her cock perfectly and surrounded her in a glove that took memorized her shape. A flood of wetness swept through the silky pink walls and bathed her in wetness, and Emerald’s eyes went hazy as the sensation barraged her, overwhelming her just as it had for Ruby. Maybe moving through it wasn't the best option as it only heightened her lust, but Emerald found herself being driven to her peak far faster than she had wanted to. But, given how long she’d gone without climaxing, it made sense; she was horribly pent-up, and any stimulation was enough for her.

Her face tightened horribly as her climax rose up, her face a rictus of effort as she drove herself inside with solid thrusts and sharp jabs, her previous deliberate pacing suddenly lost as she ran towards the finish. Her eyes were tight and her lips formed a firm line as the strain made itself known, and harsh grunts left her lips as she slammed in over and over, quick and hard enough to smash through the spasming walls that gripped her so tightly. She only lasted for a few more pumps before her body burned with the pleasure of orgasm, her face loosening and lightening up all at once as her cock throbbed violently with an oncoming orgasm.

She didn’t stop thrusting even as she started to cum herself, and though Ruby’s pussy was painfully tight at her orgasm swept through, Emerald found herself driving through those walls with desperation as her dick exploded with pleasure. Her spine tingled and her shoulders rolled as she sheathed herself in Ruby’s snatch over and over, Her balls pulsating as surges of cum surged up through her shaft and spurted into her condom. The protective rubber stretched out as cum filled it rapidly, far faster than it was meant to handle, and at a far greater quantity. Her grin grew wider as she was able to properly release herself, her eyes almost rolling back and her eyelids closing firmly as she sighed with bliss.

It ballooned out in Ruby’spussy, and the girl’s eyes went wide and her body undulated raggedly as her inner walls were stretched by the swelling rubber condom. It stretched out obscenely, filling out in ragged patches as it struggle to contain the weight of all that cum being packed inside it. Dense cum pooled into the condom and sent it swelling to twice its normal size and beyond its normal capacity, but that was only dimly registered by Emerald as she kept up the motion of her hips. In hindsight, moving while filling the rubber condom with more cum than it could handle probably was not for the best, as too much strain was put on the simple material.

It broke, as Emerald had feared it might. She didn’t realize that at first, and was too focused on sawing her hips in and out, rolling along with Ruby’s orgasm and taking pleasure in it. The burst condom caused cum to shoot right into Ruby’s unprotected pussy and, while a great deal of her initial load had been stopped by the rubber, at least a third of her remaining seed was jettisoned right inside Ruby’s pussy. It was enough to barrage her cervix with a virile load of baby-batter, which was greedily sucked inside thanks to nature’s design, and Emerald’s sperm went to work as fast as it could. Much more of it surged through the silky tunnel and swept around her dick, stretching walls out even further as white fluid sought purchase inside her walls.

Dimly and belatedly, Emerald realized what had happened. She pulled out hurriedly, letting Ruby come off her orgasmic high. The moment her cock popped free of the too-tight tunnel a rush of thick, white liquid came out after her, coating the underside of Ruby’s ass and the sheets under her in thick, gooey white. The condom was ruptured neatly in a line from head-down, and while a good portion was trapped in the now obscenely tented-out bubble at the top, much of it was swollen with cum; enough to stop Ruby from swelling up, but not enough to prevent her seed from taking root.

Emerald panted as Ruby looked at her, her tiny hand running through her now-sweaty hair. “Emerald? What’s wrong?” 

She gulped. “The condom broke, Ruby.”  
  


She feared the worst, and did not get it. “Oh. Okay.”

Emerald frowned. “Okay?”  
  


Ruby shrugged lazily. “I told you already, it was okay. I don’t mind, Emerald.” Her face was red as she smiled shyly. “I’d… like it if I could feel _you,_ anyway, rather than the plastic.”  
  


“You - you could get pregnant.”  
  


Ruby shrugged. “Maybe, but -” She smiled again, lazily and sweetly. “But that felt _really_ great, Emerald. I’ve never felt like that before.”  
  


Emerald just stared at Ruby, feeling her shoulders tingle and heart thump. A grin wormed its way onto her face, and she was still grinning as she once again lowered herself over the younger girl. “Yeah?”  
  


“Mhm,” Ruby hummed. “I felt really nice.”  
  


“I’ll make you feel better, Ruby,” Emerald promised, leaning in to kiss her. “For a long time.”  
  


Her dick was still rock hard as it slipped down between the girl’s thighs, and Ruby widened her legs to allow Emerald to push herself down without obstruction. Emerald set their foreheads together as she leaned in, her back arching as she tried to align herself without the use of her eyes. The lingering thought that she’d just released a portion of her load inside Ruby was still hot and heavy in her mind, and she knew that there was a chance that the small amount she’d filled her with potentially meant that she wasn’t at risk of pregnancy, but Emerald wasn’t focused on the practicality of safety now. She wanted to make Ruby happy, to go along and indulge her in her requests, and the needier part of her mind urged her to fuck the girl raw.

Her cock slipped against her cum-painted folds, drawing a shudder from them both, and Emerald sighed as the wet heat clung to her now-bare head. All the sensations she felt before were heightened by the rawness of it all, and she groaned as she began to push her hips inside at the same slow, languid pace as before, driving her still-swollen log of dickmeat into the welcoming heat. Ruby let out moans and squeals as she was again filled out with hard, dense dick, taking a similar pleasure out of the real, genuine texture of Emerald’s brown-skinned shaft. 

Ruby tilted her head up as yet more moans left her lips, and tried to meet Emerald's mouth as it hovered over her. She missed her mark, but made up for it with eagerness as she kissed Emerald’s chin, and worked her way up. The dark-skinned girl giggled breathlessly as she pushed down with her hips, her taut belly rippling as she pushed into the impossible tightness before her, while Ruby clumsily yet eagerly tried to align their mouths. She eventually made it and tugged her girlfriend into a more proper and thorough kiss, locking their mouths together in a steamer lip-lock that made Emerald groan from deep in her chest.

Ruby taking initiative was nice and fun, and it made Emerald’s spirits soar as she realized how into it the girl was. She wasn’t shy or scared at the strange, new sensations that assaulted her body, and was happily accepting Emerald’s swollen, cum-stained girlrod deep into the plush, velvety softness of her wet snatch. The tunnel was filled with cum, though thanks to the condom, not a ridiculous amount of it; though the most cum was packed densely into the upper reaches of her slit. Still, white globules were shifted by Emerald’s cock as it delved inside, her hips moving steadily deeper and deeper, feeling inner walls clench around her untightened meat. 

Cum and juices churned as Emerald's huge cock shifted inside Ruby's gummed-up channel, and sloppy squelches rang out as she moved and pushed. Her fat, heavy balls were yet still swollen with her sperm, and Emerald knew it would take more than one ejaculation to come close to calming her ravenous appetites; she typically went for long lengths at a time, involving several ejaculations. It was that relentless need that drove her on, urging her to try and fit yet more cockmeat inside Ruby's tightness.

But Ruby really was tight, and her inner walls had almost sprung back into their original state despite the fact that they had just been filled and stretched by cock and baby-batter just a moment before. The spongy walls wrapped around Emerald's uncovered cock, embracing it in a slick heat that was unmatched by anything, and the girl's blood boiled as she craved more. She knew that taking more when Ruby couldn't handle it wasn't wise, and she tried her best to match Ruby's pace, to work her hips along with the noises that left her mouth.

Their lips were still connected, and Emerald tried to teach Ruby the art of kissing throughout the entire fucking. Tongues danced and tangled, but Ruby lost control often, for she was overwhelmed easily when Emerald's bludgeoning cock hit a pressure point or erogenous zone and made her entire cunt quiver all at once. The amount of wetness that bathed her tunnel was hard for Emerald to believe, and it was like the girl's climax had unleashed a flood; but that made it easier to work herself back and forth, to saw her fat, throbbing slab of brown cockmeat in and out, and so she didn't mind. 

Cum and juice mingled as it was fucked into a lather by Emerald's hips, spilling out around Emerald's girthy rod as it slipped in and out at a careful and even pace. It flowed over her wide-stretched cunt lips and dribbled over the delightful curve of her ass, pouring into the pool of cum below, and more was fucked free as the minutes passed. Emerald's lips grew hungrier with each thrust of her lower half, and she kissed Ruby deeply, firmly, her tongue probing further and ranging wider as Ruby increasingly failed to control herself due to the pleasure coursing through her. Emerald tasted her lips and her cheeks, dipping into the back of her mouth and the roof of her jaw, all the while tangling with Ruby's tongue intimately.

Ruby made pleased noises and groaned into her mouth, and that spurred Emerald on to do more, to try harder. She wanted to impress her girlfriend, and even though Emerald knew she didn't need to impress anyone with her sexual prowess - she was, after all, very experienced and rather good - Ruby knew none of that, and Emerald wanted to make sure that Ruby's first time was amazing. It was okay if she didn't reciprocate like a more learned person might, and the simple act of her trying to buck her hips and roll her pelvis was more than enough for Emerald.

Emerald used her muscles to move herself efficiently, exerting her athletic, academy-trained body to power her movements. Her muscles became pronounced under her skin as she moved, occasionally poking out as she moved in just the right way and with enough force behind it. Her body rocked as she thrusted, and Ruby's legs went wider as they accepted Emerald's full thrusts into her body; her limbs curved around the dusky girl's hips and tugged her closer, allowing Emerald to add a bit more of a jab to her downward thrusts. Her upper body was close to Ruby's, her breasts squishing up against Ruby's breasts and collarbones, acting like plump pillows for their comfort.

Ruby sighed and moaned, and when Emerald's mouth finally pulled away - both their lips nice and swollen from the extended kissing - the noises grew louder, headier, and more delightful to listen to. Emerald indulged in the noises that she teased from her new girlfriend, and each pump and thrust of her hips was bent toward that purpose: to make those noises louder, more throaty, to hear Ruby cry in delight for her. 

Ruby's sopping snatch felt so nice around her, squeezing and rippling, massaging hard, aching dickmeat soothingly. The wet heat clung to her shaft as it delved in deep, probing her depths on every strong inward push, and Ruby's legs would tighten each time. Her pace was still measured, but Emerald wasn't shy to add a little more force to it whenever she could, and enjoyed the way the girl cried out as a result. It didn't matter how she moved, since Ruby was sensitive enough and still riding her post-orgasmic high, and so Emerald effortlessly pleasured her with each dip and thrust, each back-and-forth motion of her hips.

Her spine rolled as her body undulated, her body less moving up and down and more back and forth in a sliding motion that allowed her body to slip and slide against Ruby's. Sweat formed a fine sheen on her warm skin, just enough to make the going nice and smooth, and she took advantage of that to rub their flesh together. Ruby was only modestly curvy, but Emerald was significantly more so, and while the brown-skinned girl took simple pleasure in the skin-on-skin contact and the friction of the rubbing, Ruby was treated to a full course of sliding curves and plush flesh squishing and squeezing against her and she moaned happily as a result.

Emerald felt her second climax approaching swifter than she would have liked, but it didn't matter. She knew Ruby wanted her, that Ruby didn't want her to stop, and she didn't plan on it. They were girlfriends, now, and this was no hook-up; there was time for them to get intimately and thoroughly acquainted. Her movements became a little more erratic and quite a bit faster as she felt that heat build up in her abdomen and rush through her lower body, with her swollen ballsack tightening and aching with need. It slapped heavily against Ruby's drooling cunt lips as she bore down powerfully, making the tender petals quiver with each solid impact.

The cunt quivered around her rapidly swelling length as she delved in deeper than before at a faster pace, and the new friction sent thrills through Emerald. The raw feeling of plundering her girlfriend's cunt without anything in the way was a shocking delight, and her body tingled and muscles shivered with bliss as each push and thrust sent her closer and closer to the edge. The looming threat of releasing a potentially impregnating load into an unprotected pussy did not even come to mind as she moved, and it was the last thing on her mind as she started to murmur Ruby's name against the girl's lips.

"Ruby," Emerald murmured, "Ruby - I'm close - Ungh -"

"Please," Ruby groaned, eyes wincing as she took more and more cockmeat into her tightness, "Please - "

Emerald’s eyes closed and her jaw went tight from how hard she was clenching it, her hips driving downward as her body undulated. Her muscles popped out as she drove herself in with force, strain evident in how she breathed and moved so raggedly. She was tense as her climax approached, but it didn’t last long, just like how she’d cum so quickly the second time around. Her strain transitioned into delight as she felt her balls tighten up and her cock swelled, stretching out the cunt ever further as she slipped inside deeper and deeper. 

Emerald shoved herself inside as far as she could go, and her balls spasmed. Her cock throbbed as it sent ropes of semen surging into the unprotected cunt surrounding it, bathing pink walls in thick layers of white in an instant. It was like an explosion of cum, really, and each violent throb and pulse of her dick was accompanied by another volcanic explosion that sent more of the thick, white fluid into Ruby's pussy. Walls were stretched out impossible wide under the deluge of liquid, and her womb was entirely filled this time such that there was no single inch not awash in white - it was filled to the brim, an ocean of virile baby-batter filling her up until there was no pink flesh left.

The rest of her cunt soon followed, with every inch packed with dense cum that sent it ballooning outward. While Emerald couldn’t see the effect she was having, she could feel the cunt get looser around her and feel her dick bathed in a bath of her own rich semen. She knew well enough the feeling of when the weight of her cum inflated a girl out, and as she poured another hearty load right into Ruby’s cunt, she felt the same - the swelling of her belly, filling out as if she was pregnant as Emerald pumped rope after rope of cum inside her as if she was a machine meant for insemination.

She grunted as she rolled her hips and let out yet more semen, inflating Ruby further and forcing sloppy rivers of it to flow from her cunt. Ruby groaned and mewled beneath her, writhing in the bedding, her mind having trouble coping with the pleasure assaulting her body. Emerald was having no such issue, and as she rolled her hips with each spurt of cum, she found herself craving yet more. She didn’t want to overwork Ruby, but she wanted more; craved more, and she couldn’t contain herself. 

Emerald wrapped her arms around Ruby and hauled her up, and with Ruby’s legs around her waist, it was easy to pull on her. She shifted herself around and leaned back until she was in a rough sitting position, with Ruby firmly planted in her lap. Her cock was still lodged deep inside Ruby’s pussy, and cum squelched as it was shifted back and forth. Ruby merely trembled in her lap, her mouth slack and eyes glazed with pleasure, panting softly. Emerald grinned and set a hand on the back of her head, pulling on her face and allowing their mouths to connect. Her other hand was enough to start guiding Ruby’s hips, at first only back and forth in a grinding motion.

Cum shifted and squelched, dribbling from her overflowing cunt as it was churned. The moment Emerald had their mouths secured together and she could suck on Ruby’s soft lower lip her hand retreated and moved to Ruby’s bubble butt, and she gripped it with both hands. She began to pull on Ruby’s lower body, dragging her up her shaft with nothing but her strength, as Ruby was too inexperienced to know the motions of riding her. She was just as deliberately as before, making sure not to move too fast as she brought Ruby up and down her shaft, but she wasn’t slow, either, and moved at a deliciously brisk pace.

Ruby’s cunt rippled as it was dragged up her dick, with her walls clinging to her with vicious tenacity whenever they weren’t utterly bulged out with semen. As her cock moved spurts of her creamy cum was forced out, and Emerald only dimly recognized the mess she was making; all that mattered was moving Ruby on her, filling her with cock; having sex with her girlfriend. She brought Ruby all the way up to the apex of her dick, with her bulbous dick-head only half-buried inside her wide-stretched petals and rubbing at her fleshy clit, before she was being brought back down on her obelisk of warm brown girldick.

Her cock slammed in deep as Ruby was dropped on her lap, taking every last inch of her girthy meat right to the base. It was the most cock that had been inside her at any time, and being able to get all of herself in there was a joy for Emerald’s horny mind. Whenever Ruby was held down in her lap she squeezed her ass and pushed her back and forth, grinding her one her throbbing prick and groaning. Ruby’s clit was stimulated by the back-and-forth motions, and her cries were ragged as her body was over-stimulated.

Emerald’s fingers sank into the meat of Ruby’s delightfully perky butt, and she indulged in the delightful feel of it. She squeezed powerfully as she continued to drag her up and down, and Ruby landed with a resounding clap as she brought her down time and time again, her cock throbbing as it delved in deep and her swollen dickhead brushed up against the entrance to the girl’s cum-stuffed womb. Ruby’s thighs encircled her waist and gripped her tight as she practically held on for dear life, and Emerald chuckled as they squeezed her whenever she brought Ruby all the way down. 

The girl’s hands moved down Emerald’s curves and alighted on her breasts almost nervously, and though Ruby seemed barely cognizant, she still went for what she’d been staring at. Emerald chuckled and urged her along with whispered words, and Ruby bashfully and clumsily pushed her fingers into the plump mounds of titflesh. Her hands weren’t large enough to fit all the way around them, not even close, and in her hands Emerald’s tits appeared to be a cup size larger; while they couldn’t match Yangs, to Ruby, they were just as large.

She squeezed and prodded like a first timer might, rolling the flesh in her palms while her fingers squeezed brown skin until it spilled out, and it made Emerald pant with lust. She delighted in the feel of it, and allowed the pleasure of the fondling to take her to new heights as she continued to bounce Ruby in her lap - up and down, back and forth, with steady grinding motions to punctuate it. She stretched out the cunt around her until movement was easy, though temporary; and all the while cum came pouring out in frothy waves, though that wouldn't aid her chances much the next time around.

Emerald sighed as she kissed at Ruby’s neck and shoulders, while Ruby continued to whimper and sigh, her hands clamping down around Emerald’s breasts. Her grip got painfully tight when she hit a pleasure-high, and she squeezed so powerfully that tiflesh went white in her grip and spilled out between her fingers, and Emerald gasped raggedly and groaned, but never did she stop her motions. Her dick throbbed with need, the friction proving delightful enough to satisfy her burning desires but left her craving more. 

Her face tightened up as she carried Ruby along her long shaft, pulling the full length in and out of the slick snatch atop her. Her breathing hiked as pleasure surged through her core, her balls aching and tingling. She pulled her mouth away from Ruby’s flesh and she set her chin on Ruby’s shoulder in something like a loving embrace while her hands continued to twerk her ass on her meaty pole, using her cunt like a hole made just for her pleasure. Ruby’s moans were sweet and soft, and no matter what Emerald did, it seemed to make her happy, and that, in turn, made Emerald happy. 

Her face tightened up further, brow dipping and teeth pushing into the soft flesh of her lower lip as she moved faster, bouncing Ruby at a faster pace and dropping her down harshly. Her hips clapped against her own as she was dropped into her lap, her plump ass jiggling in the cage of her hands as Emerald’s movement became erratic. She was grinding Ruby at the same time that she was bouncing her, causing her inner walls to distend as her cock pushed into them at odd angles and produced sloppy noises that she’d never related to Ruby before today.

But today was a lot of firsts, and Emerald loved them all. Ruby’s eyes were fluttering closed and her lower lip quivered, and Emerald followed suit, her own eyes fluttering shut as strain surged through her and made her motions ragged and harsh. Her lips twitched as she worked herself faster, grinding her cock into spongey cunt walls and enjoying the sensations that were produced, and her eyebrows quivered on her forehead as the sensations became too much to bear.

Her body shivered violently as she slammed Ruby down again, and the mask of strain on her face melted away as pleasure soaked through her body and onto her features, and her mouth opened and eyes parted with utter bliss as the rigours of the sex faded. Her cock throbbed powerfully for the third and final time that night, sending another massive load of semen through her meaty pipe and blasting Ruby’s innards in another violent deluge. Her womb simply could not hold any more, and none of it managed to make it inside despite painting the entrance white; it all simply poured down the cunt in thick, sloppy waves like an overflowing beaker.

It ran down the sides of her cock in a warm wave of unbroken white, much like before bulging out the girl’s insides under the weight of the rushing liquid. Throb after throb travelled up her cock, dredged up from her thick, sperm-producing balls, and into the girl’s fertile cunt. So much of it was lodged inside and packed tight around her dick-meat that her belly swelled out even further, giving the appearance of a girl already long pregnant and swollen with a child; and on Ruby’s small frame, the effect was significant. But Emerald wasn’t focused on that, only the pleasure of the moment and the high running through her, which was mirrored closely by Ruby

She had reached her peak as well, and her cunt was rippling and spasming as it was filled with hot, thick cum. It was like she was trying to milk Emerald for more, comically enough, but the green-haired girl was too out of it to comment; the bliss and relief of cumming three times after so long was enough to make her numb. The third load of cum was entirely unnecessary as far as nature was concerned, for if the first two loads didn’t seal the deal and guarantee conception, then luck was not in Emerald’s corner; enough semen had been poured into her, however, that she just _knew_ there was no chance of Ruby coming out of this unscathed, safe day, or not.

It didn’t matter, in the end. She was too out of it to comment, and so was Ruby. She just held her new girlfriend in her arms, holding her tight, leaving any thoughts of what might happen or how things might progress as _later_. Right now, she just wanted to be with Ruby, to spend that time with Ruby, and let her worries go. And the redhead seemed to want the same thing, as she rested her chin in the crook of Emerald’s neck just as she had done the same, and let out a contented sigh.

“I love you, Emerald,” Ruby whispered, her voice so quiet it was nearly inaudible.

“I love you too, Ruby,” Emerald said back firmly, heart beating fast. 

_Huh,_ She thought to herself. _When did things turn out so good for me?_

* * *


End file.
